Let's Play a Love Game
by Kreatyve
Summary: Naruto and Sasuke have never been friends...well...actually, they probably consider each other rivals, but when Sasuke asks Naruto for a favor things get complicated...AU high school fic...SasuNaru!
1. Let's Play A Love Game

**A/N: ***Rubs her hands nervously together and licks her lips*….well this is my first fanfic story, and I know it sucks, it actually currently has no storyline, and I will write it as it comes, so basically I am winging this story, I just want to try out this whole writing business; I kind of wanted to make a story just for the hell of it…who knows once I actually think of a halfway decent story I might just delete/drop this one, because I doubt it will go anywhere…NEVER THE LESS, thank you whoever you are for reading these author's notes and this chapter (though you will probably drop it half way through)…oh, yea, this chapter is really short...hopefully they will get longer...

Wow I really know how to make a first impression don't I?

**DISCLAIMER: I, as unfortunate as it may be, don't own, and never will own Naruto :'(**

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**Chapter 1: **Let's Play A Love Game…

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"This has been the worst day ever!" Naruto exclaimed. He sat down forcefully, in one loud thud; thrusting his backpack down on the bench, next to his best friend, Kiba Inuzuka, at their self-proclaimed lunch table. Who was sitting next to their sleeping friend, Shikamaru Nara. This wasn't shocking, since Shikamaru tended to sleep everyday at lunch, claiming that it was the only time of the day he could rest peacefully, without troublesome interruptions: teachers and school work.

It was lunch time, so that was a plus side to brighten his mood, but Naruto was still annoyed by his new schedule, and all the people in his classes who were intent on making his life miserable just because he looked like an "easy target", with his "small stature" and "chibi-like face"; their words not his.

Sure, he was a newbie, but that didn't give people the right to pick on him, on top of all that, he was strictly forbidden to fight back, according to his guardian, Iruka Umino. This was his seventh high school to date, after being expelled from the first six within the first weeks due to being a class disruption and all the various fights he instigated.

Which, he always won; he was known as the Kyuubi at his old school, or the feared nine-tailed fox demon.

He was out to make sure that no one found out of his old identity, in fear of, jeopardizing his new high school life that he wanted to finish, more or less, peacefully. Though, he had a hard time remembering these reasons whenever someone decided to pick on him. This was his last year of high school, and he knew that is he dared get expelled from this school, Iruka was going to have some severe punishment for him.

He had gotten used to East Konoha High easy enough. He had already made friends with Kiba and Shikamaru, though they just called him Shika, and most of his teachers were halfway decent, but he could argue otherwise for Gai-sensei, all in all, nothing too horrible, aside from thse god damn bullies.

"So, what happened this time?" Kiba said with a grin on his face as if oblivious to the annoyance on his friends face.

"_Everything_!"

"Come on, Naruto, I thought we already agreed that we didn't think that this high school was that bad."

"Yeah, and I thought so too, but I feel like this day has pushed me over the edge, if another damn gay freak tries to grope me I think I might just explode!"

When the hell does that ever happen to anyone, anyway? Everyone talks and lectures about sexual harassment, but it doesn't happen often. Of course, it would be just Naruto's luck to get stuck in a school where blondes are rare. The blonde hated his hair and eye color on days like these. Seriously, you don't have to be blonde to be beautiful...Naruto himself preferred brunettes with darker eyes. Either way all the pervs in this school where getting to him. And he might just end up killing them all if they didn't knock it off.

"Calm down, Naruto, you know you can't do that, since that would make life troublesome for all of us." Shika mumbled, lazily, with his eyes half closed, just barely turning his head towards them, in acknowledgment.

Both Kiba and Naruto turned, in shock. Shika was actually awake during lunch, enough so to actually talk to them.

"Shika, I didn't realize that you were awake." Naruto said, with a hint of his surprise still left on his face.

"How could I possibly stay sleeping with you yelling your heart out about everything that has gone wrong today?" Shika stated, his tone implied that they were both dumb for not coming up with that answer themselves.

"Sorry," Naruto said sheepishly

"Anyway, I think we should do something to get back at all those guys who are screwing with you." Kiba cackled, with a cheshire cat grin across his already animal-like face.

"What are you plotting now, Inuzuka?"

All of their heads turned towards the new voice. It was Shino Aburame.

"How do you know that I'm up to anything?" Kiba questioned, with a slight blush on his face. Not that anyone, but Shika noticed, anyway; he was the only one who caught little details like this, considering that Naruto was basically ADHD, so there was no possible way that he would have noticed in the first place.

"Nothing really other than that feral grin on your face, it's hardly innocent looking." Shino sarcastically pointed out.

The boys were a little shocked that Shino was actually talking, usually he never was one to start a conversation; but Shika knew that he only acted this way around Kiba, which was for the same reason Kiba blushed when Shino called him out; Naruto, on the other hand, just resorted to gaping.

"W-well, either way, it's none of your business in the first place as to what I'm planning." Kiba stuttered indignantly, now blushing because he actually stuttered.

"Haha…but Kiba we haven't even planned anything yet, I haven't agreed with you, you know? Come on, you know as well that I _have _to be good in order to stay here. Old Lady Tsunade will use any reason to kick me out, considering my lengthy repertoire and all." Naruto sighed.

"Repertoire? Do you even know what that word means, Dobe?"

Naruto gritted his teeth before he turned around; not that he need to, since he knew who was speaking just by the voice, as well as, that stupid nickname.

"What do you want, Teme?" Naruto shot back, at a smug looking, raven-haired boy.

"Now, now, that is no way to talk to your senior," The boy chastised.

"What the fuck, Teme? We are both seniors and you're like maybe two months older than me!"

"No, I'm four months older than you, get your facts straight, Dobe."

"Pfft…like I'd know that because I'm a stalker, and actually care to find out your birthday."

He smirked, "So, you admit it then?"

"_Heck no_!"

Naruto face was turning an array of colors as he fought of the anger that consumed him. This guy needed to leave him alone. It was bad enough that he ragged on Naruto all the time, even though they have no classes together, but to disturb him at lunch just to insult him, was out of line.

"Well, your words; not mine"

"You're getting on my nerves, Teme…So, fuck off!" Naruto struggled to keep his voice reasonable, and failed miserably. He didn't want to lose all that he worked for just because of this bastard.

"That's not what I came here for…"

"What is it?" Naruto, all but growled.

"Go out with me." Sasuke Uchiha ordered.

"What the _hell!_?"

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**Thanks for making it this far**! Because I think if you are reading this you actually read the whole chapter…which I congratulate you on since I don't think I might have been able to do that… :P


	2. Favors

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER...as depressing as that is...it is true...**

**A/N: **Well, this took A LONG time to update...sorry, I was so caught up in my other fanfic, which isn't sasunaru, I find it easier to write since I am a straight girl, and reading yoai is WAY easier than writing yoai, even though, I haven't written anything that yoai-ish, yet; I still have to think about it a _tad _bit more. It is 5:28 am and I haven't slept at all yet, so excuse all mistakes, but please point them out, I want to fix them! All that being said, I HOPE YOU ENJOY THE CHAPTER! XD

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**Chapter 2: **Favors

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"Stop yelling, Dobe." Sasuke ordered, as he pulled Naruto by the wrists, away from his lunch table, rather forcefully.

All of Naruto's friends' faces were filled with concern, but none of them wanted to cross the young Uchiha, for the wrath of the Uchiha's was known throughout Konoha. If you got on their bad side, you could kiss life, as you know it good-bye. They could make it impossible for you to find a job, get into a school, or just as easily, get you fired from your job, for no good reason, by one short phone call. That is just how much influence they held over Konoha. Uchiha Corp. was one of the leading business in the world. Talk about scary.

_Some friends they are..._ Naruto thought bitterly, as he watched his friends do nothing to help him from the sidelines.

Once they were in a more secluded spot, where the whole campus couldn't hear Naruto's yelling, Sasuke stopped and turned around to face Naruto.

"What was that, Teme? Is this a prank? It isn't very funny! Then again, I didn't think you had a very good sense of humor in the first place." Naruto spit out at the Uchiha, with as much contempt as he could muster.

"No, Dobe. Would you just listen?" Sasuke uttered, exasperated.

"Do I have a choice?"

"No."

"I didn't think so...hurry up I'm listening, against my will, but listening, none the less. I want to get back to lunch so I can finish my ramen." Naruto whined.

"Some things are more important than ramen."

"I doubt it."

"Whatever, I need a favor. I nee -"

"Excuse me...what was that?...did I hear you right?...does the great Uchiha heir need Naruto Uzumaki's help?" Naruto inturrupted, enjoying that he could tease the raven.

Sasuke gritted his teeth to keep himself from smacking the dobe.

"Yes..." He said, unwillingly.

You could tell it was extremely embarrassing for him, an Uchiha, asking for...help...from a nobody. The Uchiha's always got what they wanted, they never needed other people, other people needed them. It was demeaning for Sasuke to throw away his pride and ask for a favor so openly.

"Yes, what?" Naruto asked.

"Yes...what?" Sasuke repeated, completely bewildered, though none of his confusion showed on his face. He always wore his indifferent expression as a mask, no one really knew if the Uchiha's had any emotions, some of the wilder rumors said they were all robots and that they didn't have the ability to show emotion, and most people believed it.

"'Yes, please'...say it" Naruto commanded, loving the power he had over the famous stoic Uchiha.

"No," Sasuke said, in a deadpanned tone.

"Then, I guess you don't really want my help that much..." Naruto trailed off, as he turned around in full preparation to walk away from the Uchiha.

"No, wait..." Sasuke asked grudgingly.

_Haha...this is so great...I bet if I asked him to do twenty push-ups he would...finally the respect I deserve... _Naruto cheered inwardly.

Naruto, once again, turned to face the raven, who now had a torn expression on his face. He was debating whether it was worth it, to basically grovel and beg to this...this...commoner. But he was desperate, after all he _had _decided to come ask for help in the first place.

"Yes...please...Naruto, I need your help."

Naruto smirked at his tiny victory over the teme.

_Take that, Teme. I think I am the first man who has ever broken your perfect indifferent mask...and will definitely live to tell the tale...a lot. _ Naruto thought happily. _This is totally a silver lining to my horrible day._

"What do you want, anyway?"

"I already told you."

"No, you haven't."

"Yes, I have, but apparently your fish-like attention span has proven itself once again." Sasuke sneered, his usual insulting teme-self had reappeared again.

"I don't think it is wise to insult the person you need a favor from..."

"Fine, fine, whatever, Dobe, I need you to go out with me."

"What_!_?...I thought you were just kidding then!...Or trying to freak me out, or something! You can't be serious?_!_"

"Lower your volume...and I don't 'kid', especially about something like that." Sasuke said, completely serious.

"Why the _hell _would you need me to go out with you? !"

"I'll tell you as soon as you quiet down, and not repeat everything I say in your amplifier of a voice. Letting the whole school in on what's going on isn't exactly something I want..." Sasuke grimanced. He knew that the Naruto wasn't going to be quiet until he knew the whole story, and even then there was no guarantee.

"Answer my questions!"

"Ok, calm down." Sasuke half ordered, in vain. " My father, even a dobe like you should know, is Fugaku Uchiha, head of Uchiha Corp. He's making me get engaged to a random French girl, who is a daughter of another world renown company, to strengthen ties between our two companies for good and ensure that we won't have a fight for dominance later on...and I don't want to marry her so that's where you come in."

"Huh?"

"Yea, I didn't think you'd understand." Sasuke sighed.

"I don't get where I come in...?"

"I'm going to use you as an excuse to not marry her."

"How?"

"I'll just say I'm in love with you and -"

"But I'm a boy..." Naruto said dumbly.

"Yes."

"But then everyone will think you're gay..."

"I know."

"Why would you let everyone think you're gay?"

"..."

"Are you gay_!_?" Naruto exclaimed, finally putting two and two together.

"Hn."

"Oh! My! Freaking! God! No wonder you turn down all of those girls who ask you out daily! Yeah, now that I think about it, you've never gone out with a _single _girl! You have all those fan girls, what a waste! I thought you might just be asexual, or something, but guess not! Who would think that the great Sasuke Uchiha would be..._gay_!" Naruto shouted, in complete and utter shock.

"Are you through, Dobe?" Sasuke said, with evidently annoyed. "This way, because I will announce that I am gay, my dad can't pull that 'you-will-learn-to-love-her' card. Since he will know that I don't like girls to begin with."

"But...but...but...why me? You could ask any guy. Actually everyone,_ but me_, would happily volunteer to be your little puppet."

"I just wanted to ask you. Alright, Dobe? Please drop it."

"Grr...fine...this is all pretend, right? Other than this crashing of your engagement party, I don't have to do anything?"

"Yes, yes"

"Hmm...but what do I get out of all this?"

"A year's worth of ramen?" Sasuke tried.

Sasuke didn't really think that would work, but Naruto was so simple. Naurto didn't realized that he could have asked for anything, _anything at all_, and he would have gotten it. He could have asked for a Iphone or a new house, for all he cared. The young Uchiha had millions to his name. Yet, Naruto would settle for ramen, happily any day.

"Deal!" Naruto proclaimed. "Now I can finally buy a used car."

"You spend enough money on ramen in a year that you could buy a used car?" Sasuke wondered incredulously.

"Yea...doesn't everyone?"

"...no comment"

"So where and when is this party?" Naruto inquired.

"This Sunday, in the evening. Don't worry about it I'll call you and pick you up, anyway."

"Ok."

"Anything else you'd like to ask?"

"Yeah," Naruto answered. "Will you buy me some more ramen? I'm _starved_!"

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**THANK FOR READING!**... I hope you liked it... I hope I didn't make too many mistakes...should the next chapter be the party or should something happen in between that time?...LEND ME SOME IDEAS PLEASE...much appreciated...review/comment whatever you want to call it...until next time!


	3. Conditions

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, or any one else...as much as I wish it wasn't true... I know that I would definitely wish to own Kiba XD**

**A/N: **Ugh...I hate how my chapters all end up being ALL dialogue I feel that if they are like that there is no...substance to the story DX...oh well, no point freaking out about it since it isn't going to change that is how I feel comfortable writing. Well, I updated this fast just to make up for like the 2 months that I didn't even think about this story...I had put my first priority to my other story and left this one alone...so here is chapter 3. I dedicate to all the people who took there time to read all the way to chapter 3 and not just skip to it XD...**ENJOY!**

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**Chapter 3: **Conditions

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"So...what did Sasuke want with you yesterday?" Kiba asked casually, but there was evident curiosity leaking into his voice, as they sat onto their customary lunch table.

Shika had gotten there early by ditching P.E. class with one of his legendary forged doctors notes. Shika was the _king _when it came to making plans to get out of work, or getting anything that he wanted really. And, as always, he was already sleeping with his back on the bench, and his hands tucked beneath his head as a makeshift pillow. He had probably been gazing at the clouds before he fell asleep, it was almost a routine of his. As shocking as it may be, this lazy-assed, spiky-haired teen had an IQ that put Stephen Hawking to shame.

"Why do you want to know? It's not like you are my friend or anything. Since you didn't help me whatsoever, when Sasuke, basically, kidnapped me! Like good friend would!" Naruto accused, loudly. Even though Kiba was sitting _right _next to him, because Shika took up one whole side of the bench. There was no point in yelling. But amazingly enough, he managed to yell at Kiba and stuff ramen in his mouth at the same time.

There was nothing Naruto Uzumaki couldn't do when eating ramen was involved.

"But...but...what the hell was I supposed to do? He's Sasuke _Uchiha_...I want to live a full, happy life, thank you, very much." Kiba reasoned...rather pathetically.

Kiba knew that Naruto was going to make him feel bad a bit longer before he gave in and told him, so he took that opportunity to start attacking his sandwich, with so much vigor, you would think that it was going to run away from him, or something.

"I don't know..._something_, or anything at all, would have been nice!" _Rather than just siting there and enjoying the show..._

"Sorry...please forgive me...and tell me what the freak is going on between you two! 'Cause. I. Need. To. Know. It's _killing _me!" Kiba, all but, howled, at the blonde. Though it was slightly muffled from his mouth being occupied by his half-chewed sandwich bite.

"Hmm...let me think about it...umm...No!"

"Ah, come on, I'm your best friend..." Kiba said in sort of a sing-song kinda voice.

_Oh, so he decided to pull the 'I-am-your-best-friend' did he?...I was wondering when he would do that._ Naruto thought, amused at how Kiba was overracting.

"Well...in that case...still no!"

"_Please_!" Kiba begged. "I will do anything! I just want to know!"

"Ok, ok...on two conditions..."

"Yeah?"

"One you can't tell _anyone_..."

"Yea, yea, I wouldn't have done that, anyways."

"And two, you have to do all my Physics homework for this week."

"But that is not fair!"

"Hey, hasn't anyone ever told you: life's not fair...if you want to know what happened then you have to do what I say." Naruto rejoiced._ First, Sasuke, now Kiba, this is a good week, screw those perverts and bullies, this maybe the most fun I have had in my life._

"Ugh...ffffffine." Kiba said resentfully. "So, tell me _already_!"

"Ok, so, Sasuke asked me to go out with him yesterday, bec -"

"What the fuck_!_?"

"That is _exactly _what I said, literally."

"But, dude, you are a _dude_!"

"Yes, thank you, Captain Obvious."

"But then everyone will think he is gay..."

"I know."

"Why would he let everyone think he is gay?"

"..."

"Is he gay! ?" Kiba exclaimed, finally putting two and two together.

...And this is why Naruto and Kiba became friends: they are two peas in a pod.

"_Hn_." Naruto grunted, in a bad impression of Sasuke. You knew it was a horrible imitation of Sasuke because Naruto was smiling as he did it.

"Why you, though! ? He could have picked anyone! I mean, come on, everyone, but you, would _happily _volunteer to be his puppet!"

"As they say 'great minds think alike'...Yeah, I asked him that _exact _same question, but he wouldn't answer me. After teasing him so much, I decided to drop it when he asked, if I pestered him any longer he would have gone over the edge, for sure...I doubt I would be here right now in one piece."

"So...umm...why did he ask you out?...Is he in...uhh...love...with...you?" Kiba asked, hesitantly.

"HAAHAAHAA...no no no...pfft...HAHAHA...no!" Naruto choked out, in between his fits of laughter.

"Then, why?...huh...what other reason could he possibly have?" Kiba challenged, feeling indignant from Naruto's insulting reaction. He didn't take it personally, though. It was rather far-fetched to think that Sasuke could have a feeling called love, or any feelings at all.

"He needs me to break up this engagement thing his father is forcing him to for some reason that he explained, but I wasn't really listening. I was kinda occupied with thoughts of how my ramen would get cold if that conversation lasted any longer..." Naruto admitted sheepishly.

"You agreed!" Kiba said in his 'freaking out' voice. His pitch was so high that Naruto was pretty sure that there were dogs whining in the distance.

"Yea," Naruto shrugged.

"Why the hell would you do that_!_?"

Naruto only needed to say one word to explain.

"Ramen."

"Oh," Kiba completely excepted that answer with no surprise. "How much?"

"A year's worth." Naruto stated.

"Hey, you can finally get that used car you have had your eyes on for the past year..."

"I know!" Naruto exclaimed, jubilated.

"You guys never cease to amaze me..." Shika mumbled under his breath.

"Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty." Kiba joked.

"Don't make me put a muzzle on you. I am seriously debating whether not to, so don't push your luck." Shika threatened in a low voice, still annoyed that Kiba had yelled _all throughout_ lunch _again_, waking him up several times. Especially when he was having nostalgic dreams about his memories of repeatedly beating his uncle, Asuma, at shogi.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bench this afternoon." Naruto snickered.

Right as he said that the bell rang to signal the end of lunch.

"Aw!...I didn't even get to finish my sandwich!" Kiba whined.

"Leave it. We have to go to Physics, and we all know how much you like our recent physics' lessons...At least I hope you do, for your sake." Naruto winked.

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Naruto was grateful that it was Friday, he had it up til here with all the freaks that he had encountered that day, and that week for that matter. The bell for the last periods finish had rung, and he was now leisurely walking towards his locker. As he gathered the necessary books for this weekend's homework, he noticed that Sasuke was at his locker, which, apparently, was only three lockers down from his.

_Makes sense, his last name does start with a U, too, after all. Funny, I haven't noticed that before now...I know that I have always hated that stuck-up, spoiled brat. You would think I would notice him if he was in such a close proximity to me, daily...or not._ Naruto thought idly.

Naruto, also, noticed now how good-looking the young Uchiha was.

Sasuke didn't look in his direction.

He took this chance to give the raven an appreciative once-over glance out of the corner of his eyes.

Sasuke was wearing a well-fitted, navy blue, long sleeved sweater today, which clung to his lean frame. This was complimented by a pair of well worn black skinny jeans that were snug in all the right places, and to finished the look he wore his slip-on black and white checkered Vans. All the dark colors he wore really emphasized his beautiful milky complexion that could make any girl jealous.

His hair, also, stood out to in contrast to his pale skin, it was a blackish blue, it was hard to explain exactly what color it was, it had a sheen to it that made it other worldly. His hairstyle was questionable, it resembled a cockatoo, because of the way it stuck out in the back, but he managed to pulled it off; with bangs that framed either side of his angular face.

And while we are on the subject of his angular face, Naruto couldn't help be mesmerized in Sasuke's dark, brooding onyx eyes, that tapered towards the end into the perfect almond shape, hinting at his Japanese ancestry. Sasuke wasn't even looking directly at Naruto, but they were still captivating. Naruto gaze lingered seconds longer on Sasuke's angel-carved, small cherry red mouth.

He noticed all of this within the four seconds that he let his eyes rest on the teme.

_What the fuck...I am not even gay. Why the hell am I checking out Sasuke?...not that he isn't bad looking, actually he is the _exact _opposite, he is fucking ho-, wait no. I. Am. Not. Gay. End of discussion._ Naruto rebuked himself. _Stupid Teme, this is all his fault, he is making me pretend to be gay, and now I actually acting like one, too._

While Naruto was having a full on discussion with himself; Sasuke was taking in the golden haired, tanned boy.

_Dobe's locker is this close to mine?...hmm...it definately gives me a good view of him...that is for sure..._Sasuke thought to himself.

Sasuke permitted himself a quick glance at the blonde; in that second, his mind went into overdrive as it tried to picked up all of the little details that made Naruto...Naruto.

Naruto was clad in his traditional plain, over-sized looking orange, V-neck, but then again everything looked rather baggy on Naruto's lithe, short statured body. On top of his baggy T, was an unbuttoned, pinstriped black vest. These were his two signature colors: orange and black.

Sasuke noticed how Naruto's Ipod earbuds snaked from under his shirt and back out through his V-neck, where they rested on the front of his chest. Naruto, like Sasuke, was wearing skinny jeans, but his were a dark blue wash. They also hugged and accentuated his relatively long, slim legs. Oh, and the blonde was wearing his favorite well-worn, beat up, high-topped, orange Converse, that had faded to a point that it, hardly, had any of its original color left in it.

His hair was flawlessly tousled into a mass of brilliant disheveled gold spikes. Which, in the front, dangled alluringly over his eyes. The color of his hair set off his expressive, cerulean blue eyes, in a way that was hard to describe in words. They sparkled like gems on his face. Below the eyes was a well sculpted nose, and under that was a heart-shaped, carnation pink, mouth.

There were three mysterious scars on each of his cheeks that resembled whiskers, almost. Sasuke didn't know where they were from, but felt unexplainable pain at the thought of the blonde had suffering in the past. The origin of the scars tortured him to imagine. There was another mysterious thing about Naruto: his year round tan. Sasuke appreciated Naruto's head-to-toe, ever-present golden tan.

It made all the colors on him, all the more, vibrant.

Naruto was still looking at the contents inside of his locker, as his mind raced with thoughts of the Uchiha; even though, he had already finished rounding up all that he needed for the weekend homework that had been assigned, minus Physics, of course, Kiba was going to take care of that one this one. Naruto figured that he had spent was too much time in front of his locker, without doing anything, and Sasuke was bound to notice him staring aimlessly at the inside of his stark locker for a prolonged amount of time.

He looked back in Sasuke's direction, only to be disappointed by an empty space.

As Naruto shut his locker door, he was startled to find Sasuke, casually leaning against the locker, right behind his, with an arrogant smirk on his face. But, then again, when was that smirk not on his face?

"What now, Teme? Naruto said, exasperated. _This is becoming a daily thing now...hmm though I don't think I mind talking to him _that _much...or at all really..._

"Nothing much, Dobe...I just wanted you to come over to my house, now, so we could go over what you have to do, say, and generally how you have to act at the party. I don't want you to embarrass me." Sasuke stated in a no nonsense tone.

This set Naruto off.

"Fuck no!...Why the hell, did you pick me if I was only going to 'embarrass' you_?_!" Naruto yelled, enraged. He didn't like it when people underestimated him. He knew what he was worth and didn't like taking shit like this from people like Sasuke. He knew Sasuke's kind, rich, snobby, and condescending, to all people that were not them.

_Can't believe I was thinking about how he looks amazing...if he only had a thing called inner beauty..._Naruto thought sarcastically. _Teme thinks that I will just embarrass him if I act like I do now...jackass..._

Sasuke's eyes grew wide by the shock he felt at the blonde's explosive response to his seemingly innocent request.

"Naruto, I am not trying to insult you or how you are...it is just people who come to parties like these are a bunch prissy rich people with ludicrously pointless expectations. You will stick out like a sore thumb, and in the end I still need father 'approval' of you. He might just force me to marry that girl because he thinks you are a miscreant that wants money, or something that includes an ulterior motive." Sasuke reasoned.

"I don't need to impress people that have a stick up there ass and look like they have smelled something bad...all the time!" Naruto said furiously.

"I know...that is how I feel all the time..."

"Really?" Naruto said, completely caught off guard. _To think that 'Mr. Perfect' Sasuke had expectations that he had to put in efforts to fill._

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, indifferently, but he was secretly happy that Naruto had calmed down.

"Hmm...fine, I will come over...but on one condition..."

"Yes, Dobe?" He was ready to give him anything as long as he came quietly without another episode.

"Buy me some ramen on the way."

"Why does everything boil down to ramen with you?" Sasuke asked, but he didn't expect an answer or need an answer. This was a quirk made Naruto who he was.

"Follow me." Sasuke told the blonde.

"Ok," Naruto said, surprisingly obedient.

_Finally, no arguing back, with random uncalled for, angry, outbursts. _Sasuke thought, thoroughly relieved.

_I think he might suffer from a severe case of bipolar disorder, though._

The school was deserted by this time. They had spent so much time talking to each other, without realizing it, it had been more than an hour since school had let out. Naruto had called his guardian, Iruka, to tell him that he would come home late because he was spending the day at his 'friends' house for a school project. Luckily, Iruka didn't ask as to _who's _house he was going to because that would have lead to a _way _longer phone call.

Since everyone had left for home long ago, Naruto easily spotted what had to be Sasuke's car, it was the only car in the lot after all.

There was a I-can-see-my-reflection shiny, top-of-the-line, dark blue, Lamborghini Murcielago sitting dead center, in the middle of the deserted parking lot.

Naruto started to drool at the sight of the gorgeous car. It shouldn't even be considered a 'car', to call it a car was an insult, it grouped this work of art with all the other cars out there. This beauty was of a class all on its own, car was too plain of a word to describe this exquisite masterpiece of a vehicle.

"It's beautiful..." Naruto whispered, in awe, to Sasuke.

"You think?" Sasuke said, with an amused smirk. "It was my 16th birthday present."

The raven pressed a button on the keys, which made soft beep, and then, simultaneously, both doors on either side of the vehicle opened upwards, automatically.

"Wow..." Naruto murmured, softly, still starry-eyed.

"Hop in."

Naruto eagerly obeyed the request. He climbed into the passenger side of the car, watching Sasuke as he sauntered towards the driver's, and in one fluid motion jumped into the Lambo.

Sasuke revved the engine loudly, before speeding off in the direction of the Uchiha Mansion.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**...did you like my description of Sasuke and Naruto? :P Haha, it is so funny I was like writing this chapter worrying that I wouldn't have enough to write about and it ends up being my longest chapter for this story XD...I hope you didn't get bored, nothing really special actually happened in this chapter XP


	4. Unexpected

**DISCLAIMER: Es triste...pero Naruto no es mi propiedad...DX**

**A/N: **I'M BACK XD...in California that is...I miss Pakistan DX...other than that and my internal clock is SERIOUSLY messed up. School is starting in, like, basically, 2 days, and I doubt I will update all that often (I might do it a lot if this becomes my method of procrastination, which is very likely) Plus, it is Ramadan and I am fasting so...I don't know how that will effect the story it most likely make the storyline retarded because I will be dehydrated AND fatigued when I am writing...enough about me...ENJOY!**  
**

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**

**Chapter 4****:** Unexpected

* * *

Sasuke turned his car into an unseen, secluded roundabout, that was hidden in the abundant greenery of its natural surroundings, and at the mouth of the circular entrance stood an opulent, solid metal, brass-colored gate. That had the unmistakable Uchiha fan crest intricately carved into the center.

_Well...I take it we are at his house now..._Naruto thought dryily. _I wonder if that gate is pure copper or some other precious metal..._

Sasuke rolled down his window so he could enter in the gate code in the number pad located on the ivy covered wall he had pulled up next to. A few beeps later, Naruto marveled as the two heavy gates swung inward, with a low groan, to unveil the longest cobblestone driveway Naruto had ever seen. You would think it was another road, or something. Either side of the lengthy pathway was edged by roses and other, more exotic, flora, Which was then backed by a wide expanse of vividly green grass, that housed the occasional tree, bird bath, garden swings, or water fountain.

Naruto couldn't help but oogle. This was insane, compared to the small two bedroom, one and a half bathroom, apartment he stayed in with Iruka.

"I hope you like my front yard." Sasuke said, with his signature condescending half-smirk. Though, he was still facing forward because he was _still _driving down the front path to get to the front of the house.

"It is amazing..."Naruto said honestly, too awestruck to even try to lie, or feign disinterest.

_Hm__m... that is surprising I was expecting some more screaming of how I am a rich, spoiled brat._ Sasuke thought surprised. He felt slightly pleased on the inside that Naruto liked his house..._way on the inside_.

"It is nothing compared to the multiple houses we have around the world." Sasuke boasted, for no apparent reason. Well, there was, but not that he knew it at the time, his reason was to impress this so-called dobe.

"Cool..." Naruto mumbled. His face was pressed against the glass, taking in all the details of his surroundings.

_This really is a new side of Naruto...all he ever does is yell at me when we are together. This is a nice change of pace..._

They finally reached the end of the driveway. Naruto hopped out of the car, as soon as it came to a stand still. Sasuke, on the other hand, took his time getting out of his car. Even with Naruto incessantly yelling out, "Hurry up, Teme!", while jumping up and down in the doorway, waiting for the door to be unlocked.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Sasuke responded, as he locked his car. There was no real point in doing that, since it would be impossible for someone to get through numerous security measures and steal his car. Sasuke made no move to quicken his pace, but Naruto kept shouting...in vain.

Finally, much to Naruto's relief, Sasuke approached the door, where he was standing impatiently. The raven, slowly, fished out his keys from his pocket, then put it in the keyhole, and turned said key. Which made a barely audible click to signify that it was unlocked now. With a quick turn of the knob and a soft shove from Sasuke, the door swung backwards to expose the true luxury of the Uchiha Mansion. The foyer was bigger than Naruto's whole apartment. It was a old-fashioned Victorian style home, that was over-furnished, with a number of antiques that were worth more than all of the money Naruto had ever had to his name, or ever would have.

Naruto was now admiring the plush carpets and the small ornaments that decorated the multitude of collector-style side tables.

_There was just way to many things in this room to even see at one time...it is larger than any museum I have ever been to...well then again I haven't been to that many museums, but still. _Naruto thought in disbelief.

As Naruto was gaping at all the furniture, Sasuke had already made it to the doorway that lead further into the house, and now was tapping his toes, in frustration.

"Hurry up, Dobe, You can come another day to look at all the stuff in my house...Ok, that might just take a week, but right now we don't have time for this." Sasuke said, with his annoyance laced like an edge to those words. But he couldn't help himself from thinking that Naruto's puppy-like curiosity was endearingly cute.

"Ffffffiiiiiiiiinnnee, Teme, I'm cominnnnng..." Naruto moaned. Naruto started making his way over to Sasuke, who was still standing under the door frame. Naruto purposely, and over-dramatically, dragged his feet against the carpet in a excruciatingly slow pace, just to tease the raven.

"Ok, then I am leaving first. You can just find me on your own. Have fun there are close to a hundred different doors in this house, but I assure you finding mine will be a peace of cake." Sasuke said sarcastically, as he turned his back towards the blonde and disappeared from Naruto's sight.

"No, wait, Teme!" Naruto shouting in his urgency, as he ran. In hopes, to catch up with the raven, before he lost him for good. Only startled to find that Sasuke was waiting _right _behind the wall, and now was _laughing _right behind the wall.

_Teme, can laugh..._ Naruto was completely dumbfounded.

He couldn't help but revel in the sound of Sasuke's laugh. It was more of a light chuckle.

A rather subdued sort of laugh, but it was almost hypnotic. It was smooth and entrancing, it fell over Naruto like a spell. One thing was sure, he was definitely spellbound. For the first time, he saw Sasuke's body shake slightly in time to his laughs, his face contort into a half smile, with his one hand covering his mouth, and another wrapped around his stomach. Just like any normal person, but it seemed different on Sasuke, more meaningful...special. Naruto felt special. The raven laughed for him. Well, he laughed _at _him, but either way, Naruto was happy that he was the one who made that introverted raven chuckle, if only once. And he couldn't help but feel special.

It was short lived, since Sasuke had resumed his walk to room, but with Naruto trailing behind him.

"So who's home?" Naruto wondered, hoping to fill the silence, while he glanced around the current room they were walking in. Almost, as if someone would happen to show up in this exact room, all of a sudden.

"No one."

"Not even your mom?"

"No, she died a long time ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

"No, it's fine, it is the truth after all. She died when I was three. I hardly even remember her, there is nothing to miss." Sasuke explained, with nostalgic tone hinting at how much he was holding back.

"Uh, yeah I know how you feel, my mom died giving birth to me..." Naruto added, hoping to ease the raven's pain. Naruto liked it more when he was laughing.

"Yes, well no point in living in the past..."

"Hmm...yeah...what about your dad?"

"He is working. He is always working." Sasuke mumbled towards the end.

"Well, he is _the _head of Uchiha Corp. 'Bringing you the futu-"

"-re's advances today'..yeah...yeah." Sasuke finished his father's lame slogan for Naruto.

"Any siblings?"

"Yeah...one."

"And?" Naruto pushed.

"Older brother, but he has long since left the family..."

"Why?"

"I don't know I am guessing he just wanted to get away from father just like me..."

"Yeah..umm...I _wish _I had dad. Mine died in a freak rabid fox attack when we were camping." Naruto stated sadly.

"That was random. I guess everyone has their own messed up life story." Sasuke smiled wryly.

This was not the type smile Naruto wanted to see.

"Haha...I guess...but I _really _love my guardian, Iruka, he is just like a dad to me. He scolds me...a lot...but he cares for me when I am sick. He always tries to cheer me up when I am feeling down, even though, he says sorry that he couldn't provide more _financially. _I think he has given me what really matters." The blonde said earnestly.

"Surprisingly heartfelt -" Naruto glared at the raven. " - but you have a point, and in more ways then one. You might really be better off than I am."

"Thanks, Teme."

"You tell _anyone_, I said that to you, and I will hunt you down and kill you painfully..." Sasuke gave Naruto the famed Uchiha death stare.

"Aw...come on, Teme. You know you would never be able to hurt me." Naruto said in a sing-song type of voice, widening his sapphire eyes, as much as possible, hands on his hips, and his bottom lip jutting out, in a heart-shaped pout.

Sasuke froze, mid-step.

_Stupid, Dobe! Trying this on me...I can't think straight...ugh my mind keeps wandering back to his lips. I want to kiss him so freaking bad. He looks like a puppy. I think I want to hug him too. Damn it this is bad he has this much power over me by just one look...he looks like those anime characters you can't help but have a crush on...hell...no one bests an Uchiha...keep it together! You are using him; he can't use you! _Sasuke mentally screamed at himself.

Of course, none of his inner turmoil leaked onto his outside façade.

"I thought you hated when people called you chibi." It wasn't a question, he was stating of a fact.

"How did you know that?" Naruto shouted, in astonishment.

"Please, everyone in the school knows that. You are pined after by every gay guy in the school, you have a fake overly 'tough guy' attitude and you are constantly complaining about the sexual harassment...from both guys and girls..."

"Ugh...I can't believe you know all that. But what the hell does it have to do with now?"

"How can you deny being called a chibi when you make faces like that?

"Fucking Te-, wait a second...do _you _think I look like a chibi, Sasuke?" Naruto said in a devilish tone, eyebrows raised.

_Shit!_

"Wha-, no" Sasuke stumbled.

"Why else would you bring me looking like a 'chibi' up after I made that face, _unless _that face made you think of me as a chibi." Naruto reasoned.

_Who knew he could pay attention to detail...no time to be thinking about that now! He totally has you in a **corner**!_

"Sasuke, do you think I am cute?" The blonde teased. Naruto started to creep closer to the paralyzed raven.

_Grr...I hate how he is a head taller than me._ Naruto whined on the inside. _So not fair... at least I get some fun out of today...playing with Sasuke is hella fun...who knew Mr. High-and-mighty was so easy to manipulate._

Naruto was now barely an inch away from the Uchiha. His face millimeters away from Sasuke's face when the raven looked down to meet those large cerulean blue eyes. Their bodies were now brushing up against each other, if only ever so slightly.

Sasuke gulped inwardly. _What is he going to do now? Maybe I should just run away. Uchihas do not run away! Hell, we don't run, in general...we have people to run for us...not the point!  
_

_All I want to do is feel those pink lips under my own._ Sasuke thought unabashed. He was too swept up in Naruto's alluring, and unwavering, gaze. _I am a teenage boy, with hormones after all..._

_This is what he wants from you, Sasuke, he wants you to break for him you can't let him do that...he is practically seducing you...you will never live it down...Bloody hell! Look at those eyes, they are ocean blue, they are so many colors I don't even know where to start. _The petrified raven panicked.

"Hmm...Sasuke?" Naruto asked through his eyelashes.

"Come on, Teme, I want an ans -"

Naruto was unable to finish that sentence because all of Sasuke's self-restraint had finally broke. He caved into the temptation and kissed the adorable dobe.

* * *

**THANKS FOR READING!**...if you want to find out Naruto's reaction you have to wait for the next chapter XD...I know I kinda down played their tragic screwed up lives, but I did n't really want this story to focus on the sad stuff, though it will play a part in the story eventually, just not so prominently...I really did just want them to kiss already :)...I hoped you liked it, but I think I still like my last chapter better...ah well...REVIEW/COMMENT OR WHATEVER!

P.S. I am still in shock of how many people decided to read this...so MUCHAS GRACIAS XP


	5. Complications

**DISCLAIMER: As always...I OWN NOTHING! DX**

**A/N: **Sorry for the non-existent updates...my junior year of high school has started and I have been too lazy to even look at the computer lately...but I am back...well for now that is... :D On top of that, Ramadan has come to an end :'(...so I won't be fasting and sleeping whenever I get home now...I hope that means I will actually get to writing more chapters, for BOTH my stories, I can't give this story all the attention, sorry :/ (...even though truth be told I am avoiding writing my other one cause the next chapter HAS to be AMAZING...it is rather intimidating)

With all that said I hope you enjoy this sad excuse for a chapter XP Seriously if I were you I would send hate mail after reading this...plus it is short...lol...

"Don't kill me!" I beg, as I cover my face with my arms

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**Chapter 5**: Complications

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_Mmm...Sasuke is a good kisser..._Naruto thought, in pure bliss.

After a couple of seconds, the actual situation crashed over Naruto.

_Holy crap! Sasuke is a good kisser...I'm kissing Sasuke!...Wait, no! This can't be happening! I'm not _gay_!_

_**Then why're you enjoying it?**_

_I'm _not _enjoying it!_

_**Are too.**_

_Am not!_

_**Are too.**_

_Am not!_

_**Are not.**_

_Am too!_

_Shit! I can't even win with myself, dammit!_

Sasuke moved his arms to drape loosely around Naruto's waist, pressing their bodies closer in the process.

Sasuke's body heat was like fire to Naruto's newly hyped senses.

Sasuke let his tongue lightly touch Naruto's lips, asking permission to enter...and against Naruto's better judgment, he granted it within seconds. Sasuke eagerly explored Naruto's mouth, running his tongue across the roof of the blonde's mouth, it was almost like he was mapping out the expanse to memorize for future reference.

Naruto, on the other hand, was more preoccupied in trying to win a loosing battle, almost to pry away. In the end, he submitted grudgingly to Sasuke.

_Hell with it!_ Naruto thought, in submission. _I can kiss him and like it if I want to!_

_**You are just saying that to make yourself feel better...**_

_No, I'm not!...I have every right to kiss him, and like it...a lot...and not be _gay_!_

_**That made no sense, and both, you and I know it.**_

_You and I are the same person, stupid!_

_**So point safely proven...?**_

_No!_

Right at that moment Sasuke nipped softly at Naruto's lower lip causing Naruto to shudder and moan softly.

_**Ok, so, now my point has been proven...**_

_Shut the hell up and let me enjoy this!_

_**Fine, fine, sheesh...try to help yourself realize that you are gay and you just get yelled at...jeez...**_

After that, Naruto was in his own little Sasuke-induced stupor.

* * *

...And Back In Sasuke's Mind...

* * *

_Mmm...I can't believe I am kissing this Dobe_. Sasuke thought, unconsciously.

_**This is what you have wanted to do all along...**_

_No, I am just kissing him for fun, it is nothing more than that._

_**Then why are you enjoying it so much.**_

_I am just using him for my own means, and I can get a little pleasure out of him if I want to._

_**You just don't want to admit that you have been in love with him ever since you first laid eyes on him.**_

_That is _so _not true...I'm just getting the full benefit of having Naruto as a fake boyfriend..._

_**Sure if that's your excuse to make out with him but I think you are trying to cover any real feelings...and I would know...since I am you!**_

_Shut it and let me enjoy kissing the dobe!...For god's sake!...Am I really that stubborn all the time?...sheesh I won't even give for myself..._

_**I am glad you realize that...**_

Leave! Sasuke commanded his inner feelings or Id, whatever the hell that nagging voice was.

_**Ok, ok, gosh harsh much...and defensive...I seriously need a reality check...**_

Sasuke just ignored his inner voice, and decided to focus on the blonde in front of him, both of their breathing ragged and broken as they finally pulled away from each other. Only because the need for oxygen had become to great for them to ignore any longer.

Sasuke and Naruto both stared into each other's eyes, as they tried to regain their breath, with unanswered questions hanging on each their tongue, begging to be relieved.

A few seconds later, Naruto finally was able to choke out the first one...loudly.

"What the fuck was that, Teme!" The blonde yelled, almost angrily. _He is just playing with me I know it...this kiss meant nothing to him...but it didn't mean anything to me either right?..._

"...a kiss..." The raven answered, straightforwardly, in slight shock of the Naruto's outburst of a response He also made sure to avoiding the real question, since that might just breach some long closed off territory of his emotions. Not that he thought about all that before he answered, it was reflex by now.

"You know that is not what I meant!"

"But that was a right answer..."

"God dammit! Sasuke, Answer me, _clearly_!"

"Why does it matter, you were compliant enough and you seemed to enjoy it. Why the 3rd degree for that?" Sasuke fired back. In the effort, to steer the conversation clear from how he felt about the blonde. He was unsure of them himself. He wasn't about to tell anyone that he didn't understand his own feelings.

"That is not the point! Why did you do that_?_!" Naruto accused.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he noticed that Naruto's eyes were glistening at the edges from unshed tears.

"This is nothing to cry over, it was just one freaking kiss, that is no reason to...cry..." Sasuke managed to say, torn at the sight of the blonde's tears, after all, it wasn't supposed to be like this.

"So, that is how you see it, '_just _one freaking kiss'..." Naruto spit out bitterly.

_Why am I reacting like this it should mean nothing to me too..._ Naruto thought, utterly confused at his own actions. _So why am I angry...?_

"Wha-...no...that is not what I meant...it is just no big deal, " Sasuke reasoned.

"Ah, my bad, it isn't 'just one freaking kiss', it is ' just no big deal' in your eyes." Naruto said throwing back Sasuke's words to his face.

"No, no, no...that came out wrong..."

"What hasn't in the past five minutes..." Naruto snorted, though the sarcastic affect was ruined when he had to wipe his eyes to make sure there wasn't a stray tear that had escaped.

Unable to look at the bewildered raven any longer, he turned away and dashed out of the room, barely managing to avoid the chair that was in his way. Sasuke made a sprint for the fleeing blonde, unfortunate for Sasuke, Naruto wasn't on the cross-country team for nothing. That boy knew how to run. Most people underestimated him, since he was relatively short and his legs were no exception. So, when he ran faster than was possible for most Olympic athletes, it tended to surprise people.

But the raven didn't have the time to be surprised, he was, practically, chasing the shadow of the dobe.

Naruto was surprised that he could see the spiral staircase that lead back to the 1st floor and that is where his goal was: the front door. He was shocked with himself that he was able to do that. He thought he was going to get lost in this amusement park of a house. But then again, he was running on autopilot, right now, so the directions were apparently coming from his subconscious. Though, Naruto was rather impressed with himself for picking up on directions, even if, he wouldn't be able to them conscientiously.

By the time Sasuke reached the balcony of the staircase, Naruto was long gone.

_Dammit! How the hell am I supposed to make up with him?...Tomorrow is fucking Saturday I won't see him at school and this Sunday is the fucking engagement party, dammit, dammit, dammit!_

_**Haha your screwed, at least it can't get any worse, right?**_

Apparently it could...and, of course, it would.

"Sasuke!" Fugaku Uchiha yelled from the entrance.

_**Ok...note to self never try to look on the bright side of things **_**ever **_**again**_...

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**THANKS FOR READING!** I am so sorry! It was really melodramatic and...and...and short...I am sorry I just had the urge to get a chapter out cause I hadn't in awhile and I wasn't really patient enough to make the chapter good...


	6. Being Difficult

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN HIM!**

_Though I have no idea why anyone would delude themselves to think I would own Naruto…?_

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Magical Mistress Sarai...**thank you for all your help and words of encouragement for this story, though I am not sure I deserved all of them! XD And for all people looking for a good read, you should check out her story Naruto: Kurashio, the first chapter is a tad confusing, but it gets REALLY good after that, make sure to put it on your must read list! You should really thank her because she is the reason I updated...though the chapter isn't up to par with her expectations though XP

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**Chapter 6: **Being Difficult

* * *

_Dammit! Nothing has been going well for me today!_

_**...karma...**_

_You are not helping._

_**Just saying...**_

_Father probably saw Naruto running out of the house and is now going to interrogate me on why there was a 'low life' in the mansion._

_**There is no way he saw Naruto.**_

_Oh, so _now _you choose to be optimistic..._Sasuke thought sarcastically.

"Sasuke! Get down here, now!" Fugaku Uchiha thundered.

Sasuke made his way down the staircase, scared of making his father wait any longer. He entered the main living room and saw his father putting down his briefcase, noting that he never did loosen his tie. Once his father was sitting down, more or less comfortably, Sasuke felt it was safe to start talking.

"Yes, Father?" Sasuke asked in a formal tone, almost business-like.

Sasuke's mind was preoccupied making up an excuse for Naruto's hurried escape from the house.

_How the hell am I supposed to explain why the dobe was here_?_!_

_**No, Father, I wasn't trying to seduce that blonde that rushed past you into being my boyfriend to ruin your engagements plans for me...**_

_Yeah, that conversation would go real well with Father._

_**Got anything better?**_

_Not really._

_**Didn't think so.**_

_Grr..._

"Sasuke." Fugaku said in a sharp tone, wondering if his son was still there.

"Yes," Sasuke replied, finally returning to reality.

_Stupid Naruto! Why the hell did you have to storm out of the house the day Father had to come home early_?_! You are so going to pay the next time I see yo_–

"About the engagement party –"

"Well, Naruto was here bec–" Sasuke said, starting his excuse speech."Wait...what?"

"Who's Naruto?" Fugaku questioned.

"No one," Sasuke answered a tad too quickly, relieved, "The engagement party?"

"Ahem, yes, well, I want you to know that it is going to be held at the Uchiha Corp. owned banquet hall at the Sharingan Hotels in downtown Konoha, catered by La Vie, french cuisine to accommodate our foreign guests. I want you to be there by 7 sharp, no later, and you must be wearing a tux. You, also, must remember to greet _all _the guests, by their names, and you are not allowed to leave Antoinette Dumont's side the entire night. We will make the official announcement of your engagement immediately after dinner. Then you are to make a speech, after me, of course, on how you believe your relationship will Isabelle will help you grow and, in turn, cause both of our companies to flourish together, I expect to see it done by tonight, so I can approve it for tomorrow."

"So Antoinette is her name..."Sasuke mumbled inaudibly.

"What!" Fugaku snapped, thinking Sasuke was talking back to him.

"No, no, nothing, Father."

"You understand what is expected of you on Sunday?" Fukagu demanded.

"Yes, completely..."Sasuke said compliantly, not really listening to what he had been asked. He had started zoning out when his father started his rant and still was only half there.

_Naruto is so freaking lucky that he escaped before Father got here._

_**Don't you mean **_**you're**_** so lucky that he left before Father saw him?**_

_No, not really, who knows what Father would have done to him._

_**Good point, I wonder how fast Naruto was running to beat Father.**_

_Me too..._

"Sasuke!" Fugaku snapped, in order to bring Sasuke back to the conversation

"Wha-what?"

"I trust you won't disappoint me." Though, the tone he spoke in hinted at no signs of trusts.

"...I won't, Father." Sasuke uttered under his breath, feeling guilty knowing what he was going to do.

True, Sasuke hated his father but there was still this innate feeling of him wanting to please his father and make him proud. Although, it had been years since he had acted on those feelings, he just couldn't help but feeling like he was going to betray his father, and that it was wrong. He knew all that his father had thought of him up till now, and all that effort he _had _already put in to make him accept him, would be, intentionally, thrown away by him, once he goes through with his plans. It felt like a waste, though he told himself that he doesn't care, that twinge in his chest told him otherwise.

"Is that all you wanted to talk about, Father?"

"Yes, you may go now." Fugaku replied, dismissing Sasuke with a quick flip of his hand, as though, he was no more than a fly. Fugaku had already pulled out his Blackberry and was dialing for just another important company phone call.

Sasuke left the room, without another thought.

No, that is a lie. He left, without another thought about his father. Most of his thoughts were still centered around a certain runaway blonde that he desperately needed to makeup with.

After, mulling around several ideas of how to go about talking to Naruto, Sasuke gave up and decided that he would think about it in the morning; but, not before he finished that speech for Father's approval, just for one last time.

* * *

...Saturday Morning...

* * *

Sasuke had woken up with a serious migraine. Every throb his head gave was another cynical reminder of what he had to do today. He had spent all night, including his dreams, thinking about Naruto. Who was always just out of reach.

After, quickly eating breakfast in an empty house, he set out to figuring out how to call Kiba, for advice on how to talk to Naruto. Kiba was Naruto's best friend, after all, so if anyone knew anything, it would be him. The problem was finding out his phone number. You wouldn't be going out on a limb when you called Sasuke anti-social.

The raven pulled out his phone to check his contacts to see if anyone he knew would have Kiba's number. It was rather sad to see his measly thing he called a contacts list. Sasuke was overjoyed, or as overjoyed as he could be, to see that he had Shino Aburame's number. They were once partners for a project in English and he still had his number in his phone. It was a good bet that Shino would have Kiba's number, since all they did was blush at the sight of each other. Well, Sasuke really couldn't tell if Shino was blushing under his jacket that covered the majority of his face.

Sasuke wasn't one for talking so he resorted to texting Shino.

After a couple minutes, Sasuke heard a familiar buzz, and now had Kiba's number.

He decided to call Kiba, because this was a way too serious conversation for text. A few rings later, Sasuke heard a groggy hello.

"Hello, Kiba."

"Umm...Who's this?"

"It's Sasuke," Sasuke stated, matter-of-factly.

"Wait...what, who, why? " Kiba stuttered "Is this a prank? Shikamaru, I know that is you."

"No, idiot, it is me Sasuke Uchiha, and Nara is way too lazy to ever make a prank call, especially at 8 in the morning."

"Yeah...ok...makes sense...but umm...why are you calling me at 8, anyway?"

"I need to talk to you."

"About?" Kiba urged, through his fuzzy mind state.

"Naruto."

"Uh...what about Naruto?" Kiba asked, slightly hesitantly.

Sasuke was about to answer when he heard the faint sound of voices arguing in the background. It sounded muffled, almost, like Kiba was covering the phone, to prevent Sasuke from hearing. It was pretty obvious that the other person was angry.

Sasuke is what we would call a relatively smart person, and was easily able to put two and two together.

"Naruto's at your house." It wasn't a question, it was a statement of fact.

"...Yea."

"Why's Naruto at your house?"

"Umm, he slept over..."

"I figured that much out on my own. Thank you, very much. Now, why did he sleepover at your house?"

"Uh...well...that information is not allowed to be given...according to Naruto...who's now hitting me to stop talking." Kiba snorted. "Ow...Kit, that one hurt. Stop it. Come on, please?"

_Kit? What the hell, is that dog boy giving my dobe petnames? _Sasuke thought, outraged.

_**Tone it down, Mr. Possessive...and when, exactly, did he become **_**your **_**dobe? Hmm...?**_

_Not now! I don' t have the time for you!_

_**Aw, come on, I know we are jealous.**_

"Kiba, put Naruto on the phone." Sasuke, all but, commanded.

"He won't talk to you, Sasuke, sorry."

"Fine, I'm coming to your house, don't let him leave."

"Um..."

"If you want to stay living in this city, I suggest you make him stay."

"Uh...ok...but you don't know where I live."

"Please, I know where everyone lives."

"See ya, then..." Kiba gulped.

Sasuke had already hung up.

The raven pulled up to a quaint, cottage-style, home that was nestled in the woods. He could hear dogs barking while he was still inside his car; he knew he was at the right house.

He made quick strides to the house, taking the front steps two at a time. Right as he was about to knock on the door, it swung open to reveal a bewildered, pajama clad, Naruto.

"Hell no!" Naruto yelled, as he slammed the door shut.

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**THANKS FOR READING! **I hope you liked it...even though it was pretty short...again. It wasn't a very good chapter, but I think the next one will be better, cause the confrontation will happen XD As always, please point out any mistakes you see, grammar, spelling, any really...'cause I have them all :P


	7. Agreement

**DISCLAIMER: I can't believe you are making me say this, but, no, I do not own Naruto. **(If I did...that manga would be under the yoai category :)

**A/N: **OK, guys this was a fast update, I totally agree with you. And you wanna know why? I have some inspiration...Magical Mistress Sarai. She makes me want to write because of all the feedback she gives me. So I'm guessing you guys are smart, if you want me to update, you should...? Yes guys, you should review, is the answer :P Before I forget...she's an amazing author herself...you should read her stories...they are brilliant! Well, here's another mediocre chapter that I have tried to re-write several times but failed...I hope you enjoy!

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**Chapter 7: **Agreement

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_**That went well.**_

_I think I need to put a restraining order on you._

_**If only that was possible…**_

_I can't deal with you right now. Naruto is really angry, and I have to get him to talk to me._

Sasuke cautiously knocked on the door. The unyielding wood stung against his knuckles as he rapped in quick succession. The cold morning air was not helping the already uncomfortable raven. This was unnatural, Sasuke usually loved the cold. He decided it probably wasn't the cold that was making him uncomfortable. Damn nervousness.

"Go away!" Naruto hollered, from inside.

"Please, let me explain!" Sasuke yelled back.

"I don't want to hear it!"

"I know you do, so let me in so I can stop yelling!"

"Umm…no!"

Sasuke was at a loss. What was he supposed to do now? Naruto was proving to be surprisingly stubborn. He looked around to see if there was any way into the house beside the door. He could break a window and then pay for the repair, but that would be unnecessarily messy and potentially dangerous.

He could check if there was a back door and whether or not it was unlocked; but, the chances of anyone opening it this early would be highly unlikely, it should probably still be locked from last night. His thoughts of breaking in were interrupted when he heard Naruto's harsh voice, this time it wasn't directed at him.

"Kiba, don't you _dare _open that door." Sasuke heard Naruto threaten, with so much venom, it was hard to believe it was still the same idiot talking.

Sasuke heard a loud thud come from inside the house, and some struggling noises. It sounded like someone had just hit the floor _hard_. The noise was amplified by the solid hard wood floor, Sasuke assumed were in the house: carpet would have muffled the noise.

"Naruto, let go of me!" Kiba shouted, frustrated.

"I will, only, if you don't open the door," Naruto said, in a rather even voice.

That did not sound good. The raven didn't really believe that Kiba could convince the idiot when he had failed, but then again they acted like real brothers, but come to think of it most brothers tend to fight and never agree on anything when it comes down to it. Not good.

Sasuke heard another loud thump.

"Kiba! Get off!"

"No."

"Yes!"

"Okay, but once I get off you, I am going to open the door, and you are going to have to talk to Sasuke."

"Never!"

The raven heard another odd sound, it sounded like they were wrestling on the floor. The raven felt slightly awkward standing in front of the house for such a long time doing nothing. It probably looked like he was going to try to break in and rob them. Though he had been contemplating breaking in, calling the police out of concern was the last thing Sasuke wanted the neighbors to do.

"How do you like being the one on bottom!" Naruto exclaimed, triumphant.

_**Sounds like they are having fun in there...**_

_Ugh, get your mind of the gutter._

_**I believe it is **_**your **_**mind that is in the 'gutter'...**_

_Shut it!_

"Naruto, please, let me just talk to you!" Sasuke begged, from the front steps. He glanced around frantically, some of the neighbors were coming out to collect their newspapers, in their robed, coffee mug-ed glory. As odd as they looked, they had it in them to stare at the ill at ease raven like he was an alien. He hoped that they didn't recognize him as an Uchiha, he had been the local newspaper a multitude of times.

"Why should I?"

"Because you deserve an explanation," Sasuke replied quickly.

"Hey! Kiba! No fair! Get back here!"

Sasuke could hear someone sprinting in his general direction. Or so he assumed because the footsteps were getting louder by the second. Sasuke had no idea how the brunette had wrestled his way out of Naruto's grapple, but he just prayed that he would get to the door before the blonde could stop him again.

Thankfully, two seconds later, the door creaked open. He saw a disheveled Kiba on the floor with Naruto on top, repeatedly, punching him.

"Why. Did. You. Open. The. Door? " Naruto asked, punctuating each word with a punch to a new part of the body.

"Ow! Kit, stop, haven't you hit me enough today?" Kiba whined.

"No," Naruto laughed, slugging Kiba across the cheek. "Well not enough for you not to open the door, right?"

"But ok, fine I'll stop now," He said with a hard clip to Kiba's shoulders.

"Sorry, that was the last one, I promise." The blonde quickly hitting the side poor boy's collarbone.

"My bad, I just have to do everything in even numbers," Naruto reasoned, alongside a soft punch to the brunette's battered chin.

"But, you hit me nine times," Kiba groaned.

"You're right," Naruto agreed, winding him with a swift punch to the gut,"Ok, we are even!"

The poor boy doubled over from the force. "You need to stop abusing me!"

Kiba needed to hire a personal EMT, he had a feeling that he wasn't going to live long if he kept hanging out with temperamental Naruto...heavy emphasis on the _mental_ part...

Sasuke was starting to think that they forgotten he was even there. He stood there watching the scene uncomfortably, still on the cobblestone front porch. If he thought the neighbors staring was bad when he was just standing there alone, it was noting compare to how they were staring now with the commotion the two boys were causing.

"Um, guys?"

"Oh, hey, what's up, Sasuke?" Kiba grinned, like nothing was wrong. His smile was slightly lopsided because of his now swelling cheek.

"Sasuke," Naruto acknowledged.

"Hey, Naruto, I'm really sorry."

"What?...It doesn't even matter," Naruto said, blowing it off.

"If it doesn't matter then why are you angry?"

"What makes you think I am angry?"

"What _doesn't_ make me think you are angry, more like it..."

"Whatever, I'm over it. I'm straight, and a ladies man! I have everything going for me. I don't know why I was angry, but I am over it. It's not like that kiss meant anything to me either. I was just overreacting." But it really just sounded like he was reassuring himself.

_**Ouch! Harsh much. Guess he had no feelings for you in the first place...it didn't mean a thing...**_

_You are adding lemon juice onto my cut._

_**Does it sting?**_

_Duh._

_**Mission accomplished.**_

"Then, why are you still on top of Kiba, with a fist at the ready?"

"No reason," Naruto mumbled, as he finally, got up off of Kiba. He offered his hand out to Kiba. Naruto lifted Kiba off the ground with an apologetic grin. The brunette was grateful to get his back off the frigid, tiled entryway, because in the end he was in a plain white T-shirt, white socks, and his boxers...he was cold.

"Sure..." Sasuke mumbled, sarcastically.

"You're really violent. You know that, Naruto?" Kiba mumbled, rubbing his cheek.

"Haha, sorry. I guess I got a bit carried away."

"A bit?"

"Ok, ok, maybe a lot. Friends?"

"Of course... just please stop hitting me all the time? That would be much appreciated," Kiba snorted. He slung his arm around the blonde's shoulder like nothing weird had just happened.

"I will try my best. But sometimes you're just asking for a bruising," Naruto smiled back.

Sasuke cleared his throat, awkwardly. It felt like this whole morning had just been _awkward_ since that was the only word that Sasuke could think to describe it with. And this is Sasuke, the walking computer with built in thesaurus, we are talking about.

Naruto looked grudgingly at the raven.

"Yes, Sasuke-teme?"

"Umm, so I guess if you're cool, like you say, then you are fine with helping me, too, still?"

"Yeah, yeah, Naruto Uzumaki never _ever _backs out of a promise, even if it kills me!" Naruto exclaimed, thumping his fist against his chest a couple of times as if that would prove his honesty as a man.

"Melodramatic much," Kiba joked.

Naruto punched him. The force behind the punch was unexpected, Kiba stumbled back roughly and groaned when his shoulder blade rammed into the door frame. First Naruto was abusing him, and now his own door? This was just sad; it was like the whole world was out to get him.

"Ow! You gotta stop doing that!"

"Sorry, you were asking for it again."

"Mmhmm, you're delusional. Where didja learn to punch like that, anyway? Your looks are _really _misleading."

Naruto punched his shoulder...again. There will definitely be a bruise there when he wakes up tomorrow.

"That was for the looks comment."

Kiba left to go find the first aid kit, in hopes, to reduce the swelling and treat the various cuts that now adorned his body. Both boys watched the other retreating figure, right as he turned the corner, Sasuke turned back to directly face Naruto.

"So you're serious? You are willing to help me?" Sasuke asked, hesitantly.

"For the ramen," Naruto justified.

"Of course...for the ramen..."Sasuke repeated, feeling oddly disappointed.

The neighbors had dispersed. If this visit had been under better circumstances Sasuke would have admired the homey, cozy feel of this cul-de-sac, it was everything his house was not. He didn't have neighbors, they had a good couple if hundred acres surrounding their estate. He wondered what it would have been like to grow up in a close knit community like this, or just a proper community at all.

"If that's all, you can leave now," Naruto pointed out to the zoning raven.

"Hn? Yeah, sure, I'm done. See you, tomorrow."

"Bye," Naruto answered.

"See ya, Sasuke!" Kiba shouted from inside the house.

Sasuke turned and left as fast as he could.

Kiba came up next to Naruto who was still gazing at the Sasuke's back, he was on planet Naruto...with no phone lines. The brunette waved his hand in front of Naruto's face hoping to get a reaction, or even some sort of acknowledgment...nothing. It took a couple of shouts before Naruto returned back to Earth enough to talk, coherently.

"Naruto, why didja do that?" Kiba asked.

"Why'd I do what?"

"Make Sasuke think that you don't like him."

"Duh, cause I don't like him."

"Well, I don't believe you."

The blonde moved away, not willing to look him in the face. He made way back into the house after slamming the door, much to Kiba's surprise. They strolled lazily back into the kitchen, they hadn't had breakfast yet, and they were starting to feel the after effects of that decision. Naruto was thinking pancakes, but Kiba's question was still stuck in his mind.

"Well, you have to believe I don't like Sasuke, cause it's true," Naruto countered, badly.

_**I don't believe that either, and we're the same freaking person.**_

_Shut up! I don't like him and it doesn't matter!_

_**Sure, you keep telling yourself that.**_

_I am telling myself that. Believe it._

_**I feel like that could become your bad catchphrase.**_

_Stop questioning. Just believe it!_

* * *

**Sunday**

* * *

_Well, it is now or never._

_**I hope you are ready to die at the hands of you father.**_

_I don't want it come down to that..._

_**But you know it will...**_

_Yeah, I saw my murder coming as aftermath with this plan._

Sasuke looked at the digital clock that sat on his nightstand, it was 6 o' clock. He had to leave to leave to pick up Naruto.

The raven quickly slipped on his tux and put on his dress shoes. He grabbed Naruto's outfit. Sasuke didn't think that Naruto would have any suitable attire for this type of gathering. So he had taken the liberty of finding one of his old suits that were now too tight for him, in vain hopes, that it would fit the short blonde. It would probably drape off of Naruto's thin frame, but it was the best Sasuke could do at such short notice.

The young Uchiha made his way through his house, and into his car, in five minutes flat, ready to get this whole thing over with. He pulled out of the longest driveway of history and sped over to Naruto's. The blonde never did tell Sasuke his address, but it was fine, like Sasuke told Kiba he knew everything including where everyone lived.

Sasuke came up to a small rundown apartment complex.

_147...his apartment number is 147._

The discomfited raven, made his way down the row of doors.

_143._

_144._

_145._

_146._

_This must be it...147._

Sasuke tried to ring the electronic bell mounted on the door, only to notice that it was broken. He then resorted to loudly knocking twice.

The door was opened by a tux clad, blonde, who had decided to slick back his golden hair for the night. Naruto looked breathtaking. Sasuke had never seen Naruto's hair not spiky, though he loved the perpetually messy style he had, this was a new one, and it looked great..very suave. Like a blonde James Bond. The blonde usually wore baggy clothes, it wasn't his fault that he was smaller than most males, but his tuxedo was form fitting. It hugged his lithe frame.

Sasuke was in minor shock.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto greeted. He walled out of the apartment and closed the door behind him with a jerk, quickly locking it with a turn of his key.

The raven just stared still in shock. "Umm...wow...uh...hey."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, let's go."

"Okay,"Naruto said pleasantly.

They both made their way back to Sasuke's car. They didn't talk. It was the same Lambo that Naruto had been in last time with Sasuke. It seemed rather over the top for a party...a nice car was to be expected, but a sports car? Really? It wasn't something a normal person would take to their engagement party. There bachelor party, maybe. But not an engagement party. Then again when had Naruto ever considered Sasuke a normal person? Well, that was the answer to that question.

Once Naruto was all buckled up, he noticed the random designer tux in the back seat.

"What's the other suit for?"

"Uh...no reason, it was just in case you didn't have anything to wear."

"I'm not that poor, Teme."

"Yeah," Sasuke said slightly fazed, he didn't think Naruto would call him out on that. "By the way, you look nice."

Naruto smirked.

"You don't look half bad yourself...for a teme."

* * *

**THANKS FOR READING!**...Yay for short chapter! No...ok...I didn't think that would work but I thought I could give it a shot :P I hoped you liked it...once again a whole lot of short dialogue and nothing else, sorry ^.^; The next chapter is going to be good! I can already tell...though I haven't written any of it yet, call it author's intuition XD Look forward to it! Ciao!


	8. Engagement Fiasco

**DISCLAIMER: Sorry...still don't own Naruto, but I am working on it ;P  
**

**A/N: **Happy Birthday to me! I am finally 16! I don't know why, but it is like I am giving you guys a birthday present, by updating where it should be the other way around :P But if any of you readers' birthday is today, too...Happy birthday to you! 'Cause you are indescribably awesome just because you were born on Oct. 14th! I had to take the PSATs yesterday though...well last year I had to take them _on _my b-day so I guess the day before is preferable :P

A huge-giga-normous thanks to my quasi-beta Magical Mistress Sarai! I love you for all you have done to help me, especially for the pointers...she really did help me at my lame attempt of adding details/descriptions to the story :)  
And as always I highly recommend reading her stories cause they are the definition of amazing. Dead serious, look up amazing in the dictionary and as synonyms Naruto: Kurashio and Neon Lights and Dance Club Fights will come up!

Also, I want to thank all the people who have reviewed this story. It means a lot to me that you care enough to leave a comment. I hope you get enjoyment out of reading sad excuse for a story :P...I love to hear what you guys think of ever chapter, and now I usually can identify you by your pennames, I will be like "Oh, it's them, again. I wonder what they thought of this chapter?" So...yeah...all this was to make you want to review...more...XD

**

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**Chapter 8:** Engagement Fiasco

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The Sharingan Hotel was now in sight. Looking at it added to the anticipation for what was going to happen, now that it was so close. Both Naruto and Sasuke were nervous, but neither of them was going to admit it.

Unfortunately, the hotel was hard to ignore. It stood an impressive, fifty stories tall, with the trademark sharingan emblem on the top of the building. The place just screamed expensive. Even from far away, Naruto could see the immaculately made building. Its walls were painted a dull, rustic gold, but the signature Uchiha red was hard to miss in the ornaments and patterns that decorated the many parts of the outside; a brilliant contrast. There was lush greenery surrounding the hotel, which seemed almost out of place when you took into consideration that it was fall: all the bordering trees around the area were changing into their warmer hues of the color spectrum.

As they drew closer, Naruto noticed all the fancy cars that were in the parking lot; it ranged from random limos to Ferraris to Porches, and other rarer, more obscure cars that Naruto didn't know the names of, and, when Naruto didn't know the name of a car, you knew just how rare it was.

Naruto couldn't take the silence anymore; he was going to snap with all the pressure building up in him.

"So...umm...Teme...what exactly am I supposed to do?" Naruto asked anxiously.

"Nothing much. You just have to be there, as...proof for Father."

"He's not going to kill me, right?" Naruto asked lightheartedly, trying to make a joke to ease the tension.

"Well, let's just say that I wouldn't put it past him."

"_What_?"

"Relax, Dobe. If he tries to hurt you, I'll protect you," Sasuke smirked.

"Like that makes me feel any better," Naruto snorted.

**_Though, that was kinda touching, in an odd, sorta way..._**

_Don't fall for it! He's doing it on purpose!_

**_Doing what?_**

_Acting sweet! Remember, he's a __teme__! A t-e-m-e. A teme!_

**_A sweet teme..._**

_That was oxymoronic._

**_You're oxymoronic. _**

_That makes no sense, whatsoever_**_.  
_**

**_Fine, you're just moronic._**

_Grr..._**_  
_**

"Naruto?"

Naruto snapped back to reality at the sound of Sasuke's voice.

"What?"

"I was talking to you, but you weren't responding. What's up?"

"Nothing, just nerves."

"Well, we're almost there."

"Wow, thanks, that really helps the whole nerves thing," Naruto grumbled sarcastically.

"Let's just get this over with."

"I'll just be happy to get out of this alive," Naruto added.

They pulled up into the grand, roundabout driveway which was bigger than most houses.

Sasuke got out of the car, in one, well rehearsed motion, and then, smoothly, handed his keys to the valet parking attendant, before he made his way around the car to open the passenger side door for Naruto. The blond already had his hand on the handle ready to open the door, for himself.

He let Sasuke open it for him, anyway.

"You didn't have to open the door for me, Teme. I'm not a girl," Naruto mumbled with his head down, secretly happy that the raven had done that for him.

"Yeah, but I wanted to," Sasuke smiled.

Sasuke smiled a genuine, showing all of your pearly whites, smile; one destined for mouthwash commercials where you see a glint come off of them.

This almost made Naruto freeze out of disbelief. The smile didn't seem awkward or forced, in any way. It didn't look out of place on the raven's face, in fact quite the opposite; the smile looked like it was right at home. It just finally felt comfortable enough to decide to come out. It was dazzling, and Naruto wished that it would never leave Sasuke's face.

If Naruto was a girl, this would have been his cue to swoon, and on the inside he probably did. _Way _on the inside that is.

There were definitely butterflies in his stomach, but that was most likely because he was about to get on the hit list on one of the most influential men in the world.

Sasuke and Naruto made their way through the giant revolving entrance. Naruto had fun watching as the employees caught sight of Sasuke and watched realization pass across their faces when they figured out it was the heir walking into the joint. They shuffled, jittery, around the raven. Some asked: if he needed anything, how his day was, or if he was excited. One guy even asked for his autograph; it was comical to watch Sasuke politely decline.

"Quite the popular person, I see," Naruto chuckled.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, indifferent.

The inside of the hotel was no less opulent than the outside. There was expensive, imported carpet which spanned wall-to-wall. It had such an intricate, woven design; Naruto could barely make out exactly what it was supposed to be. Across all the walls was a uniform, motif patterned wallpaper, bordered by a thick, cream crown-molding. The place oozed a sense of luxury.

Large pillars were evenly spaced across the floor, each wrapped by a mirror. The greenery from the outside continued inside to the lobby, and there was even a mini waterfall in the center of the main floor. The cold, hard, gold-speckled granite made up the counters where the top-of-the-line laptops rested. Couches and random chairs filled the mostly empty space, with a table every now and then. Those usually had a magazine, newspaper, or bouquet on top.

Naruto's eyes couldn't help but keep coming back to Sasuke's reflection, in the shiny surface of the columns.

There was just something about the raven, in Naruto's opinion, that made him hard to look away from. It was probably because Sasuke managed to look prettier than any girl he had ever seen. Sasuke did take after his mother, or at least he gathered that from the one picture in Sasuke's room. Yet the faint outline of his lean, muscular build, that was only, which his cloths only tantalizingly hinted at, made him seem like a man. Plus, Sasuke was a head taller than Naruto, much to the blond's displeasure.

Sasuke was a walking paradox.

He was insulting you, one second, and then being nice and pleasant, the next. He is forcing you into something, one second, and then acting considerate. He was mean to you your whole life, and then kissing you out of the blue.

Naruto sighed on the inside just thinking about it.

Sasuke was always interesting, that is for sure. The raven was more like a walking Rubix cube, now if only Naruto could solve him life would be a whole lot easier for him.

"So, Sasuke...has the party started, yet?"

"Yeah, we're _fashionably _late...So, now everyone's probably waiting for my arrival," Sasuke explained, taking a sharp right at the intersection of hallways.

"What's her name?" Naruto asked, hoping to pass some time, wandering this maze of a hotel.

"What's whose name?"

"The girl?"

"What girl?"

"The one you are getting _engaged _to...duh..." Naruto said slowly, emphasizing how stupid it was that Sasuke couldn't understand who he was talking about.

"Oh, umm, I don't remember. Father told me, but other thoughts had the better part of my attention."

"What was such a big deal that you couldn't even pay attention to a single name? Of the person, you might've ended up living your whole life with? I might add."

_The thought of you being mad at me._

**_Yeah, talk about apocalyptic..._**

_Shut it and stop being sarcastic!_

**_Fine then. Tell him the truth._**

_Hell no! If I told him I might as well just admit that I have a crush on him!_

**_But you do, and you know it, too..._**

_No! I don't! I'm not going to tell him and that is final, dammit!_

**_...denial is something that should be checked by a doctor..._**

"I forget," Sasuke muttered, still not wanting to tell Naruto the truth. For that was embarrassing, and Uchihas plus embarrassment equaled: syntax error, please try again.

"It was just so important that you forgot it, too?" Naruto chuckled.

"Whatever. Umm, I think her name is...Annabelle, wait no, Isabelle...? Yeah, I think it's something along those lines, maybe it was just Belle? Yup, it's Belle..."

"Oh, cool name. It seems weird compared to all the names in Konoha."

"Mmhmm," Sasuke agreed, absentmindedly.

This was true. Even though Konoha was in America, the town's nickname was Little Japan. All the people there had Japanese names, though some of them didn't even have an ounce of Japanese blood. At one point, the majority of the people living there were, in fact, Japanese; but that time had long since past. But the legacy lived on in their tradition of naming children with Japanese origin names and most of the Japanese cultures remained. Also, all the architecture of Konoha would make a person think that they were in Japan, a reminder left by the original inhabitats. Plus, if you wanted authentic Japanese style cuisine you went to Konoha. Naruto knew that well; he _loved _the ramen from Ichiraku's, a Japanese version of a bistro stand. Naruto swore to never move away just for that reason.

"We're here," Sasuke announced, as they came to a stop in front another set of double doors.

Naruto gulped audibly.

"Why're you the one who's scared? It's _my _father who's going to disown _me_."

"_I'm_ the one who might just be in mortal danger, after all this. I'm sorry for being just a _wee _bit nervous. Sue me."

Sasuke ignored the snip. He took a deep breath and slowly, turned the handle, but didn't dare to look inside.

"After you," Sasuke said slowly, waving Naruto in.

As soon as Naruto entered the large room he was bombarded by waiters asking if he needed any refreshments, and other random people saying hello to him, though, he was pretty sure none of them could possibly know who he was.

The commotion inside was distracting. They were trying to find Sasuke's dad, in this sea of people, but to no immediate avail.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hand, in effort, to keep from losing him in the crowd. Unfortunately for them, most people in the room, did recognize the raven. All wanting to be in the good graces of the Uchihas, they made sure to greet them, and then attempted at pointless small talk. Sasuke and Naruto ended up being stopped every two seconds for another apathetic congratulation from guests who could care less about Sasuke's life.

All this didn't include Naruto. No one cared to wonder who the blond that was trailing Sasuke was, despite the fact, they were still holding hands. Which made no sense to Naruto, but hey, these people were like a different species to him.

It gave time for Naruto's imagination to run wild with thoughts of Sasuke's fiancé as he was being dragged from group to group.

He could just picture her: glossy, luxurious, chestnut brown tinted loose curls that cascaded down to the small of her back. A heart shaped face with innocent doe shaped, cobalt eyes. With an excess of eyeliner and mascara packed on to them to the point that they were all a person could see on her face. Perfectly sculpted, angular eyebrows, which would always have one raised to show contempt for all general beings. A polished, classic french manicure, she was french, it would only make sense. An elegant, but still a modern, youthful looking dress that was probably made out of silk…with a bow. All fancy dresses had bows on them, right? It would be the proper length: not too little, or too much, leg exposed. She would be the ideal height for all girls not too short, but not too tall, either. She would still be able to wear heels, of course. God forbid not being able to wear heels...

She would just be the epitome of perfection.

**_She sounds kinda hot..._**

_I know. Since Sasuke doesn't want her, maybe I can pick her up on the rebound?_

**_That is a great idea…except for the part where it exposes that you and Sasuke was all an elaborate farce_**_._

_Oh yeah…but I really wanted to get a girlfriend this year. It's senior year, last chance._

**_Too bad. You ended up getting stuck with a crazy hot, smexy boyfriend._**

_Don't. Even. Go. There._

"Naruto?"

"Huh? Yeah? What?" Naruto stumbled.

"Nothing. You just looked mad...like...your facial expression..." Sasuke floundered for an explanation.

"Oh…haha…really?"

Sasuke looked away, feeling stupid.

After the forced laugh there was an awkward silence.

Good thing that they still walking around to find the family rather than being face to face.

Naruto wasn't about to tell Sasuke that he had conversations with himself, Sasuke would think he was a freak. I mean, come on, who talks with their inner conscience, or whatever the voice was, on a regular basis.

Naruto wondered sometimes if he was normal, or had a split personality syndrome, or something. Which would eventually become so serious that it would inhibit his ability of interacting with people normally. Get kicked out of every job, and with no family to help him. He'd end up being a hobo, a shunned social recluse, with no one to talk to but himself.

Naruto had a crazy imagination; he tended to get carried away in everything he did.

"Sasuke?" Naruto nudged. They were still pushing their way through the hordes of people. They goal was to reach the center stage. It would be the most obvious place for the head families to be at; they had to be waiting there to make the announcement, too.

"Hn?"

"I want to ask you something…"

"Go ahead."

"Wow, this is going to make me look really stupid, after all I've said."

Sasuke cocked a brow in curiosity.

"Tell me. I won't think you're stupid. Promise."

"Ok… umm…"

"Yes," Sasuke urged.

**_Maybe he is going to confess..._**

_Finally! Score!_

**_Didn't you just argue with me that you didn't like him?_**

_W-what, nn-no, it's not like that. I still don't have a crush on him...but...umm, I was wondering when he would fall for me...yeah...that's it...  
_

**_Sure. Whatever. P.S. I am rolling my eyes._**

_You don't have eyes._

**_Are you imagining me rolling my eyes?_**

_Yeah._

**_Success._**

"Haha, this is was more embarrassing than I thought it would be..."

"What is it?" Sasuke almost begged...just almost.

_Say it! Dammit!_

_**Quite the eager beaver, I see...**  
_

"Ok...I'm just going to come right out and ask," Naruto took in a deep breath. "Just don't tease me, Teme."

"Yeah, yeah...so?"

"No, wait. I changed my mind. It's not that big of a deal..."

"Come on. You can ask me. I already promised I won't think you're stupid for it."

"Nope."

"Please..."

Naruto blinked twice, it was shocking that the ever-prideful Uchiha easily said please.

"Umm, fine. I don't know why you care to know so badly, though?"

"Just ask me."

"Uhh...ok...fine...well...what does 'farce' mean?" Naruto asked sheepishly.

"...what?" Sasuke asked, all hope deflated.

"What does it mean?" Naruto echoed.

"You wanted to ask me what a word meant?"

"You told me that you wouldn't think I was stupid if I asked," Naruto humphed.

"You wanted to ask me what a word meant?" Sasuke repeated, dumbfounded.

"...yeah..."Naruto blushed. "I felt stupid not knowing what is meant...so I asked...see this is why I didn't want to tell you..."

"..." Sasuke was speechless, nothing in his archive of words could describe how he felt right now.

"Sasuke?"

"...Sasuke?"

"...Sasu-chan...?"Naruto poked him tentatively.

"Sasuke!"

"Farce: a light, humorous play in which the plot depends upon a skillfully exploited situation rather than upon the development of character; humor of the type displayed in such works. Foolish show; mockery; and/or a ridiculous sham," Sasuke droned robotically, as if reading straight from the dictionary.

"One more thing..."

"Yes?" Permitting himself to hope, but only a little.

"What does elaborate mean, too?"

Ok, hoping is a bad idea...

"Elaborate: worked out with great care and nicety of detail; executed with great minuteness; marked by intricate and often excessive detail; complicated."

"You sure are smart, Sasuke-teme," Naruto grinned brightly.

"Hn."

It was evident that Naruto was already on his way to being a social recluse; he didn't sense Sasuke's change in mood, whatsoever. Nothing seemed wrong, he was completely oblivious to the now depressed raven. Which was quite the accomplishment, seeing that the aura surrounding the raven emanated disappointment, tinted with a hint of rage. It was close to tangible. All the guest surrounding them took a step back, creating a 5-foot clearance around Sasuke.

"Let's hurry up, Dobe. The sooner we get this over with, the better," Sasuke sighed in resignation.

Sasuke had finally managed to spot what he thought was his father's head. He sped up his pace, and was now literally dragging the blond, to the end of the room. Knocking people out of the way, not that anyone of them dared to complain.

Sasuke felt as if his stomach was being tied in knots as he approached his father. He tightened his grip on Naruto's hand. It was more to reassure himself than Naruto.

At long last, they were now less than a foot away from Fugaku, who was also, dressed up for the occasion. Even with his newly forming wrinkles, Fugaku Uchiha looked as young as always. Another reason peole believed that the Uchihas were robots: they never seemed to age.

Sasuke was running over what he was going to say in his head, but his dad noticed his arrival before he was able to start.

"Ah. Sasuke, there you are. Where have you been? We have been waiting," Fugaku admonished.

"I was running a bit late. I am sorry, Father."

Fugaku took no notice to the boy Sasuke's hands were intertwined with. Maybe the pressure was getting to him too; Fugaku was nothing if not observant. This made Sasuke feel guiltier than he already was. It was obvious how much this meant to his father, but it was high time that he stopped pleasing his father, and started pleasing himself. He decided to let go of Naruto's hand, but he immediately he felt the lost without the now familiar warmth.

He resisted the urge to take hold of Naruto's hand, again, to fill the emptiness left behind.

"Sasuke, introduce yourself to the Dumonts." His tone hinting that he should have done that without reminder.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Dumont. It is a pleasure to finally met you," Sasuke said formally, taking Mrs. Dumonts hand to gently press his lips to the top.

"What a charming young man you are," Mrs. Dumont giggled, with the tips over her fingers pressed to her lips.

"Mr. Dumont." Sasuke shook the burly man's hand.

They were quite an odd pair. Mr. Dumont was a large thick set man, whereas, Mrs. Dumont was a petite porcelain doll. But as they say opposites attract, not that Sasuke believe that clichéd crap.

"Ahem...Antoinette, darling. Come meet your wonderfully handsome fiancé," Mrs. Dumont called into the crowd. Right after beckoning for Antoinette, she dragged her husband to another group of guests that she had apparently not greeted properly yet. Fugaku followed being the perfect host he was...well the perfect host for all those who mattered.

Sasuke and Naruto both turned around, curiously watching for her arrival. They patiently waited for the sea of people to part, to unveil the girl; nothing happened.

Sasuke felt someone tap his shoulders.

"I'm over here, you idiot."

Together, Naruto and Sasuke spun around on their heels, to see the owner of the new voice. What greeted their eyes left them both in minor paralysis.

"Antoinette?" Sasuke asked for reassurance, utterly bewildered.

"Who else could it be? Retard...by the way, don't _ever _call me Antoinette."

"I should call you...?"

"Toni," She responded easily.

Naruto's mouth was still agape. Not that Sasuke blamed him, if he wasn't trained, boot camp style, in proper etiquette, he would be in that same position.

Antoinette was nothing like Naruto had pictured her: she had what looked like a permanent slouch that was rival to Shika's. Her choice in fashion was all black, including her nail polish and heels. Her hair was in a punk rocker sorta shaggy A-line bob, dyed a bright fushia, none the less. Naruto had been right about one thing she had a bow. Not on her dress, but an emerald green bow head band that took up most of her head; Lady Gaga style. The jewel toned green matched the color of her eyes. Her makeup did over exaggerated the eyes, the way she put on eyeliner was close to drag queen status. It was definitely eye catching, for sure...And was that a lollipop in her mouth?

"Nice to meet you. You are definitely different than I imagined."

"Really? How so?"

"I just assumed that you'd be prissy, poised, and...perfect."

"Yeah, well, assuming makes and ass out of you and me," she threw back. (1)

"Yeah, no kidding," Sasuke muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" She asked sharply.

"Nothing...oh yeah...Toni, this is Naruto," Sasuke gestured towards the idle blond, who was currently staring off to space since he felt as if this conversation didn't concern him. He was able to turn at the sound of his name.

"Wassup, Naruto?"

"Nothing much...just been dragged to this lame party. You?" Naruto grinned. Already, taking a liking to this girl.

"Same."

"So this is your boyfriend then?" Toni turned to Sasuke.

"What? No way!" Naruto yelled. Causing a couple of innocent bystanders to cringe.

"Don't lie. You guys were holding hands before," She accused.

"I would never like him. He's a teme!"

_Don't tell her that! Too much information, Dobe! _Sasuke screamed on the inside, but he knew that the damage was done.

"...teme?" She echoed, confused.

"A bastard..."

"Japanese?"

"Yup," Naruto smiled, "Wait, not the point, we're not together! That'll never happen! Believe it!"

"That doesn't make sense if you don't like each other...then why were you holding hands?"

Sasuke watched in horror as everything fit into place in her head.

"I see someone doesn't want this engagement..." Toni raised her brow deviously.

**_Houston, we have a problem..._**

* * *

**Thanks for reading!** Wow that was long chapter, I feel bad for you guys, having to read all that must have been killer...sorry XD Either my chapters are too short or too long ^-^ Let's hope Toni doesn't screw it up for Sasuke and Naruto :P Were you surprised how she turned out? Review?...as a present to me? YAY! Ok now I am dead tired and have to go to sleep...see ya, next update!

(1) - this is for all the people who haven't heard that phrase before...think about it...to assume makes and ass out of you and me... ass+u+me...if you still don't get it...nothing else I can do...XD


	9. The Big Reveal?

**Disclaimer: Sasuke and Naruto had a heated argument for me with Kishimoto, but unfortunately he didn't budge. So once again, he still isn't mine...DX**

**A/N: **...I don't really have all that much to say other than I was supposed to be reading The Scarlet Letter, but I wrote this instead. So when I fail out of school you guys better be happy :P

* * *

**Chapter 9:** The Big Reveal?

* * *

_**Well...she is pretty smart for catching on that fast...**_

_No time for compliments! She can now tell Father that all this was a hoax if I tell him that Naruto and I are in love! And I'm pretty sure he'll be more than willing to believe her!_

"So…You got yourself a fake boyfriend to get out of this arrangement because you didn't want to get engaged. Too bad for you that you picked an idiot to help you. What now?" Antoinette mused sarcastically, tapping her index finger against her chin.

"Hey! How didja know all that? Who told you that?" Naruto asked dumbly, not picking up on the fact that Toni just called him an idiot."Sasuke, did you _tell her_?"

"No, Dobe. You did."

"I didn't! I never mentioned it. I swear."

"Yes, you did, by going off and telling her you don't like me that is enough for anyone with half a brain to figure out what's going on," Sasuke sighed, exasperated.

"But I wouldn't have been able to figure it out..."

"Point proven."

"Oh...Hey!...Wait wha- ...Are you saying I have less than half a brain, Teme_!_?"

"No, just implying it."

Toni watched this scene with evident amusement on her face.

"Come on guys, you don't want to ruin your _relationship _because of me," Toni smirked.

This infuriated Sasuke to no end. Smirking was reserved for him, no one else was supposed to have a chance to ever use a smirk against him that was against the natural order of life.

"What do you want? I can get you anything. Just don't tell Father about me and Naruto not really being in love."

"Whoa there, reign in your ego. You say this as if I _want _to get engaged to you. I have my own life and wants, thank you very much. Ever thought that I may like someone else and not feel like fawning over your looks? _And _it's if you _actually _believe that you and dumb blond over here 'loving' each other will persuade your father to call off the engagement," Toni mocked, "You'd probably just end up mortifying him; fueling his want to getting you married off rather than having a gay son, who is his only _heir_, marring his image. What're the chances he'll actually respect your decision, especially when it undermines his authority, in front of _all _of his most important business partners and other influential families?"

_**She has a good point.**_

_Whose side are you on anyway!_?

_**...yours...but she really does bring up a fair argu-**_

_I. Do. Not. Want. To. Hear. It._

_**And we're now back to the denial point...**_

"Well it seems that you don't believe that my plan will work without your intervention. So just don't intervene. And let the chips fall as they may when I reveal to Father that I'm gay."

"And in love with an idiot."

"And in love with an idiot," Sasuke nodded in agreement.

"Hey! I am standing right here you know!"

"We know," Sasuke and Toni smirked in unison.

"I hate you."

"I love you, too," Sasuke teased.

Naruto stuck his tongue out childishly at Sasuke. Some of the guests had started to stare at their little group, but none of them were in close enough proximity to actually hear. Or at least Sasuke hoped they were out of range, if not he would have to worry about more than just Toni and Naruto screwing this up for him. He could argue otherwise for Naruto though, since he had already told Toni...who knows who else he would slip up in front of.

"OK, good then. You agree."

"Wait up buddy, just because I agree that you're in love with an idiot doesn't mean I won't milk this for all it's worth."

"Ugh...what is it that you want then?"

"I don't know..." Toni responded.

"You better know in about the next five minutes, or you're out of luck."

"Pfft...If you do it before I name my criteria it'll be you who'll be out of luck," Toni laughed, making it clear that she was holding all the cards currently, and Sasuke was in no position to test that notion.

"Hey, Sasuke..." Naruto asked. "...that rhymes...haha..."

Naruto then zoned off mouthing other common words that would rhyme with Sasuke's name. Completely forgetting that he was going to ask Sasuke a question in the first place. Sasuke was going to let him continue to entertain himself. However, the need to know what the question he was going to ask him became too great for him to hold it in any longer.

"What were you going to ask, Dobe?" Sasuke grumbled, aggravated at himself for caving.

"Umm...Oh yeah!...where is the buffet table with all those fancy hors d'oeuvres stuff? I'm hungry."

"Already?" Sasuke asked in disbelief.

"Yup."

"It's not even close to dinner."

"What can I say, I like to eat. Plus, this is a freaking party, people only come for the food in the first place...so where is it?"

"You're such a weirdo. You know that?" Toni commented.

"Haha...that is what Iruka, my guardian, tells me all the time... well that and 'Would you just stop talking for a minute Naruto I think my headache might just be going away.'" Naruto grinned, after finishing his bad Iruka impression.

"It's ok though, I like you. You aren't like these pricks I have to hang out with all the time," Toni gestured to the general surrounding public, "It's a nice break."

"Thanks you aren't that bad yourself. I actually pictured you to be a carbon copy of all these guys."

Before Toni could respond Sasuke grabbed Naruto's hand and started pulling him off in the opposite direction. Either way it didn't look like Toni cared since when they looked back at her she had flipped out her phone, and was vigorously texting, oblivious to the world and all that surrounded her.

"Come on, Dobe. The food is over here," Sasuke muttered, as he forcibly dragged Naruto to the appetizers' table at the far side of the room. Anything to keep him away from Toni. They were getting just a little bit too chummy; it was getting on Sasuke's nerves.

Naruto hungrily, dived into the array of choices. Not even bothering to take a napkin, fork...or plate, for that matter. A couple of contemptuous glares were sent the blond's way for his lack of manners, but he was engrossed in all the new exotic types of food that he hardly noticed. He probably wouldn't have cared if he had noticed, anyway. Sasuke, on the other hand, took noticed and made sure to send back each and every one of them an Uchiha death glare in response.

"This is _soooo _good, Sasuke. You _have _to try some," Naruto said with half chewed food in his mouth.

"Don't speak with food in your mouth. That is gross."

"Fine. I'll go talk to Toni then if you don't want me to talk to you..." Naruto grumbled, as he twirled around to look for a bright fuchsia head in the mass of people.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's upper arm in a vice like grip.

"Ow! Teme, that hurts! Let go!"

Sasuke let go but not until the blond turned back around to face him. Naruto rubbed his arm tenderly, knowing that there was going to be a bruise, but it would probably last less than a day. Naruto was an extremely fast healer; it scared most of his past doctors away from the insanity of it all. He would break his arm and then roughly two weeks later after taking off the first cast, out of three, off to check the progress his arm would be completely healed.

"I never said that I didn't want you to talk to me. I would just rather prefer it be without food in your mouth."

"Ugh. So picky," Naruto mumbled as he swallowed.

"So what do you think about Toni?" Sasuke asked cautiously.

"Hmm? Oh, she's super chill."

_'Super chill' what the hell does that even mean?_

_**I think he likes her.**_

_Oh. Cool. So they get along, hopefully that'll be reason enough for her not to do anything to screw us over._

_**I meant I think he **_**likes her **_**likes her.**_

_...hell no._

"Naruto, do you like Toni?"

"Well, yeah, duh. I just told you that. Way not to pay attention, Sasuke. I thought you were supposed to be the smart one," Naruto rolled his eyes.

Sasuke ignored the jab to ask a more pressing question.

"You aren't going to ask her out are you?"

"Wha- No! I like her as a bud, not like that," Naruto defended, "...though now that you mention it she's pretty hot. And I did want to get a girlfriend..."

"You can't like her!"

"Why not?"

"Why not? Umm...cause...that would...uh...give away my plan. That's why!"

"Oh...yeah...I already thought of that..."

"Then why did you even consid-"

"I forgot," Naruto interrupted, "I tend to do that a lot..."

Sasuke laughed earnestly. Once again Naruto was immobilized at the sheer surprise, it was just so out of character. Sasuke had always been such a stoic: never talking to classmates, never participating in class, and never ever showing any emotion towards anyone, except dislike. Maybe he chose to never show anyone his feelings, but all this sudden laughing and smiling was seriously messing with Naruto's brain...literally.

_**Oh. My. Gosh. Sasuke is laughing!**_

_My, what a good grasp of the obvious you have._

_**It's so pretty.**_

_Laughter can't be pretty._

_**Sasuke's laughter is pretty.**_

_You sound like a love sick girl._

_**Cause I am. His laughter is pretty. Make him laugh some more.**_

_...It's like I don't even know who you are anymore. Traitor._

"Naruto?"

"Hmm...?"

"You look strangely angry...again."

"That has been happening a lot lately, huh?" Naruto replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, embarrassed.

"No kidding. What's going on?"

"Nothing really."

"I don't believe you."

"Well you have to cause _I_ am me and _I_ am the only person that can tell you what _I_ feel."

"I don't think you believe that excuse will work against me. I mean when has that stopped me before."

"Ok you may have a point there," Naruto grinned.

Sasuke was about to push Naruto further for an explanation but was interrupted by the high pitched squeal of a microphone. The sound had transformed into a fuzzy static with the occasional clearing of a throat. They both turned towards the irritating buzz; it was coming from the center platform. Fugaku Uchiha, Mr. and Mrs. Dumont, and Toni were all standing on a clothed stage, well actually most of them were sitting on the chairs that were set up. Only Fugaku was standing up, behind the podium next to the mic. It was not a pleasing sight for Sasuke.

_**It's time...**_

_I know._

_**Scared?**_

_No._

_**Liar.**_

Sasuke took a long deep breath and exhaled slowly, repeating the action three more times. Just like his therapist told him to do whenever he was anxious. Yes, the raven had been to a therapist but it was just to deal with the "trauma" caused by Itachi's sudden leave. He was forced.

Sasuke watched as his Dad started to make his speech, dreading the moment he called him up.

"I would like to welcome you to my humble party, I thank all of you who came. This is gathering signifies the ever growing prosperity of Uchiha Corp, which I would like to share with all of you today. None of this would have been possible without your contributions to this company. You all are irreplaceable business assets and have helped me throughout the years, but it would be a lie to say that there wasn't another part to this soirée. It is a joyous moment as I, Fugaku Uchiha, call up my one and only son up to the to take the podium, but not only that, to take the hand of his fiancé," Fukagu said as he motioned into the crowd for Sasuke to come forward.

Sasuke started to move forward, the crowd parted for him as he made his way through to the front. Naruto was following him, he dearly wanted to grab hold of Sasuke's hand just to know that everything was going to be ok, but the raven was moving so fast it would seem to everyone like he was excited to get up on the stage.

The raven made it the foot of the stairs on the side of the stage, carefully taking one step at a time. Naruto stopped following, staying at the edge of the stairs. He had discussed this with Sasuke earlier that he would wait for the raven's signal before he revealed himself as the shameless" lover". Just in case anything went horribly awry beforehand.

"Father."

"Sasuke," Fugaku nodded in acknowledgment, sidestepping away from the podium and allowing Sasuke to take his position and give his own speech.

The raven slowly situated himself behind the overly lacquered, gold engraved deathstand, hands firmly placed on either edge.

Were the lights always this bright? The raven had to raise his hand to shield his eyes in order to see properly. The audience stared unwavering, eyes still wide from the news of the engagement. Sasuke gulped, and searched for a pair of cerulean blue eyes. They smiled reassuringly back at him.

"Welcome everyone, I am so glad to see the turnout for my engagement, though you didn't know that until now," Sasuke started gaining a couple of chuckles, "The thing is that ––"

"I don't want to marry him!" Toni shouted, startling just about everyone.

"What?" Sasuke, Fukagu, and Mr. & Mrs. Dumont asked in unison, bewildered.

The whole crowd gasped like a cheesy over dramatic movie.

"Mom, Dad, Mr. Uchiha, I...do...not...want..to..marry...Sasuke. Pigé?" Toni said, purposely putting a long pause in between the words as if to let it have time to soak in.

"Antoinette, Honey, I don't understand," Mrs. Dumont trilled nervously, hoping that her daughter maybe just had suffered momentary insanity.

Her father looked like someone had just killed his puppy.

Fugaku seemed as cool as ever...icy almost.

Sasuke was...well...he was, in a sense, relieved, since Toni had done what he was just about to do...

Naruto watched happily, it was like dinner and a show. Why pass up the free entertainment, right?

The raven scooted over to Toni's side.

"What are you _doing?_!" Sasuke whispered.

"Helping you," Toni whispered back, never turning to directly face him; she never had the chance cause Fugaku decided to take matters into his own hands.

"Antoinette, why your sudden change of heart?"

"Toni."

"What?"

"The name's Toni."

"Ahem..._Toni_...why your sudden change of heart?"

"Sudden change of heart? Why the hell are you asking _me _this? Ask _your _freakin_' _gay son over here."

Fugaku laughed...or what he considered a laugh...it chilled Toni to the bone.

"And what is your proof? You think I wouldn't know if my son was gay," Fugaku challenged.

"Naruto," Toni announced with conviction.

"Naruto?" Fugaku repeated, confused.

"Naruto..." Sasuke breathed with a quick flick of his hand.

The signal they had agreed upon.

Naruto theatrically made his way up onto the platform and bowed low in front of a stunned Uchiha.

"Naruto Uzumaki, at your service."

* * *

**Thanks for reading!** Phew I am finally done writing that...this was a weird chapter I think you will like the next chapter more with their grand exit XD Comment and review or tell me you hate it...I don't care...review! :P Well I guess now I have to go read The Scarlet Letter *chokes down a sob*...see ya next chapter...unless I die from boredom DX


	10. Freed

**DISCLAIMER: HE IS MINE! MWAHAHA! Nope, just kidding, if I owned him I would be WAY richer than I am right now...and probably not writing Fanfics...just saying...  
**

**A/N:** Holy crap! This story is now double digits in chapters! :D Thanks to all the people who care enough to read this story! A special thanks going out to Magical Mistress Sarai who puts up with my nonsense...and conundrums designed to confuse! Hope you like the chapter...it was kinda so-so for me nothing too funny :'(

* * *

**Chapter 10:** Freed

* * *

Fugaku had managed to regain his composure in a matter of seconds.

"And how is this boy proof?"

"Are you retarded?" Toni scoffed.

"I beg your pardon?" Mr. Uchiha questioned, taken aback at the blunt disrespect. Not many people would dare take up that tone with him...or that phrasing. He was a CEO for one of the largest companies in the world and deserved respect, especially from an insolent child.

"I just told you that your son is gay, and as proof I called up a _boy_...it really isn't hard to figure out how he's proof for you."

"You are trying to tell me that my son is in love with this _miscreant_?" His vein now throbbing mercilessly on his forehead from the effort of not exploding in front of everyone.

"Give the man a cookie," Toni snorted.

She could hear a strangled chortle from Naruto in the background. She was impressed that he was able to restrain himself from full on breaking out in laughter. He didn't seem like a person with a whole lot of self control; actually, Naruto looked more like a person who couldn't control his emotions, rather his emotions controlled him.

Sasuke watched this exchange silently. It was turning into such a hassle, although he had known that it wouldn't be easy from the beginning, this was not what he was hoping for. People with normal, loving parents flipped when their child comes out of the closet, imagine his micro-managing father that never had an ounce of love for him. It was inevitable. He hoped that they might forget that he was even there, unfortunately, nothing ever worked out for him.

"Sasuke?" Fugaku growled. Snapping back to gaze at eye level with his son.

His eyes were like a black holes either side of his face. Sasuke was afraid that he might just get sucked into the emotionless void; on top of all that the glint in his father's eyes' was frightening.

"Yes, Father?" Sasuke said evenly, making sure to stand tall, no fear.

"Are you going to say something about this?"

"Is no a valid answer?"

"No, it isn't," Fugaku hissed through clenched teeth.

"Then, Toni's right. Father, I'm gay."

The murderous look on the older Uchiha's face all but turned the audience to stone, and he wasn't looking directly at them. It was surreal experience for the onlookers, it was hard to believe that this was all happening right in front of their eyes. When they came to this banquet they expected nothing more than a speech and then some food, not some scandalous family tell-all drama. The press would have a field day once they heard about this, some of the guest were contemplating on cashing in on this story before it got to the media.

"And who the hell are you anyway?" Fugaku spat venomously, as he properly faced Naruto for the first time.

The blond, up 'til then, had been standing enraptured in all that was unfolding, forgetting that he was just as big a part of this as anyone else.

"I just told you. I'm Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto repeated, thinking that these Uchihas weren't really as smart as they thought they were.

"Is that supposed to hold some significance?"

"Not really, I guess."

"Ok, so let me try this again. Who the hell are you?" The older raven haired man uttered bitingly.

"Umm...Your son's...boyfriend."

"Sasuke_!_?" Fugaku roared.

"Yes?"

"Is what this _brat _saying true?"

"His name is Naruto...And yes, Father, it is."

"You poisoned my son!" The Uchiha accused harshly.

"Wha-, no I didn't."

"_You _are the reason my son went down this path! _You _tempted him. This is _your _fault!" Fugaku thundered as he raised his hand to strike Naruto.

Naruto covered his face with his arms, in attempt to block, or at least, lessen the severity of the blow. The Uchiha's hand never was able to meet its mark, for it was grabbed just in time by an absolutely livid Sasuke.

"Stop, Father! None of this is his fault! Leave him out of this!"

"This is all his fault!"

"No, it is my choice."

"Why?"

"Why what?" Sasuke asked, a bit little thrown off at the sudden question.

"Why are you gay?"

"How am I supposed to answer that?...I like boys more than girls?"

"I know the definition of gay, Sasuke. I am asking _you _why _you _are gay."

"Because I am the definition of gay...?"

Naruto couldn't take it anymore, he erupted laughing, all the pressure of suppressing the persistant urges had finally broken free.

This was an extremely tense scene, he knew that, but everything felt comedic to the poor blond who was fruitlessly trying not to let even a giggle escape. This all felt like a super melodramatic soap opera that you watch more to make fun of than anything else. All it was missing was sound effects, though Naruto felt there was going to be a _dun-dun-duuun_ coming along at any given moment.

"_Naruto_," Toni whispered sharply, elbowing him in the gut.

"Ow! What?" Naruto was hiccuping from laughing so hard, but was also clutching his stomach making the spontaneous hiccups more painful than hiccups should ever be. "C'mon you have to admit that was pretty fucking hilarious, especially coming out of Sasuke's mouth."

"You have a point," Toni chuckled, "But still."

"Naruto!" The raven yelled.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't resist."

"Ugh," Sasuke grunted while he slowly dragging his hand down his face in annoyance.

Fukagu was now beyond words. It looked like he was holding his breath, as if trying to hold in his anger, too. Several shades of purple passed over his ice sculpted features, it was rather frightening. Hopefully, there was some immediate medical care units at stand by, for it was only a matter of time until he succumbed to the lack of oxygen.

Toni's parents tried a different route. Mr. Uchiha had used up all the anger in the room, or world. So the Dumonts tried the calm, understanding good parents front, but with little hope that it would succeed.

"Honey, are you...are you sure you know what you are doing?" Mrs. Dumont faltered slightly.

"Mom, does it matter if I know what I'm doing if Sasuke doesn't want to marry me in the first place. It isn't my decision to make. I'm not the one who is screwing up things for you guys, you can thank this queer," Toni patted the raven's shoulder. "Besides who would want to marry this pretty boy, anyway?"

"That's Mr. Pretty Boy to you!" Naruto shouted back, gaining a flick on the forehead from Sasuke.

"Shut up, Dobe."

"Aw, come on, you know you love me," The blond gloated, knowing Sasuke had to say yes because everyone was watching them.

"Of course," Sasuke smiled daringly.

"Hey! Wait! Whoa, Sasuke why's your face getting so clos–" Naruto was never able to finish his thoughts, silenced by Sasuke's lips.

**_You're totally taking advantage of this._**

_Yes. Yes I am._

**_And enjoying it..._**

_Yeah.  
_

**_But why?_**

_Cause I want to._

**_Why exactly do you want to?_**

_Payback for making me agree that I love him in front of everybody knowing that I couldn't say anything back._

**_Sure...let's go with that..._**

It had been longer than a minute and the two boys had still not parted. To be fair it did look like Naruto struggled for a bit in the beginning, but that is just it...it was only for a bit...in the beginning. It seemed that several people had fainted from the sight of the two boys kissing. Did they faint from disdain at the sight or an overload of twisted pleasure? We will never know.

Luckily, Sharingon Hotel wasn't famous for nothing. They had medical units called in for the unconscious in about minute.

As much as Naruto wanted to deny that he was enjoying this kiss with Sasuke, it would be a lie. It was even relatively chaste since they weren't playing tonsil hockey or anything, and for some reason he loved the innocent feeling of having Sasuke's soft lips moving against his and nothing else. All so simple...if only it was...

**_Mmmmm..._**

_No!_

**_Mmmmm..._**

_Stop!_

**_Stop what? Mmmmm-ing?_**

_Yes and no! Stop enjoying it! He's brainwashing you!_

**_Then consider me brainwashed._**

All that kiss bliss was physically torn away as Fugaku ripped the two boys from each other, chest heaving from labored breathing.

"Sasuke! Why are you doing this?"

"This is me, Father. I told you I'm gay."

"This isn't you."

"Yes, it is, and you can't change that."

"You disgrace me!"

"You say that as if you were ever proud of me!" Sasuke yelled. He had managed to keep his voice level up to this point, but his self control was being chipped away at, piece by piece. "I was always second best to Itachi! No! Not even that I was _nothing _compared to Itachi! It was all for your own convenience! One son was gone so you _had _to fall back on me! You had no choice! If you did have a choice I bet you would have thrown me in a foster home if Itachi had stayed! You never paid any attention to me until he left!"

"Obviously with good reason."

"Yeah, exactly. I'm done. Done with you. Done with your company. Done with this life!"

"You aren't going to kill yourself are you?" Naruto asked slightly scared, this furious Sasuke was really freaking him out. He thought the angry Sasuke he had school had been terrifying but it was nothing compared to the pure kill aura that was resonating in the air because the intensity of his hatred.

The raven was so mad that Naruto could swear he saw a red tint in Sasuke's eyes.

"Wha-? No, Dobe, as in done with this life I mean:_ this life_," Sasuke explained, waving towards his surroundings, "I'm done with everything linked with _this _man."

Referring to his father like he didn't know him anymore, like a stranger. The raven was cooling down because of Naruto's unexpected question; it had snapped him out of his rage.

"I'm leaving!" Sasuke announced. Grabbing Naruto's hand and pulling him to walk in step with him. They descended the short set of stairs off the stage into the crowd of shell shocked, wide eyed spectators. You could spot a EMT every few group of visitors, or so. Naruto would have been extremely amused if the gravity of the situation wasn't weighing him down.

"You have nowhere to go, Sasuke. You'll come back to me!" Fugaku called after him, probably a lame attempt to save face.

"Yeah, the day hell freezes over! You can tell me when you get there."

* * *

The silence was deafening.

They had been walking quite a while back through the hall to get to the main lobby, but they had yet to talk to each other since they rushed through the double doors.

Naruto needed some sort of converstation with the raven, or he would go crazy, even if it was just an obvious lie, like "I'm ok". It was maddening to not know what was going on in the other teen's head; the blond was already worried as is, but the fact that Sasuke had said nothing was making everything all that much worse. No kid could possibly just do that to their dad, no matter how much they hate him, and walk away perfectly fine. Life would be a happy place, or happier place if that is how relationships worked. A clean severing of that string that links people together would be a relief, but that string tends to fray in all directions before it completely unravels, or snaps.

"Sasuke?" Naruto nudged timidly.

"Yeah?" The raven responded chillingly calm.

"...it looked like you dad was going to have an aneurysm on stage."

"Pray to God that it'll happen," Sasuke grumbled, but Naruto caught that ever so small smile that graced the raven's lips. The poor blond was startled as the raven suddenly snatched his hand up into his own. "By the way, thanks."

"For what? I didn't do shit in there, it was all you."

"You did more that you know, or will ever know, or ever understand for that matter," the raven smirked.

"Aw...that was kinda sappy," Toni snickered covering her mouth with her hands as if that would stop the offending sound.

"Toni_!_?" Sasuke and Naruto cried out in estonishment from her sudden appearance.

"When did you get here?"

"I was following you guys the whole time. You guys are surprisingly unobservant...and quiet."

"Hey, silence is golden," Naruto reasoned, knowing that was complete and utter bull since he was dying to talk the whole time they were silent. He almost tripping over his own feet as Sasuke turned the corner because they were still linked by their hands so the blond stumbled at the sudden change of direction. Plus, he was half turned backwards to look at Toni...therefore, not looking ahead in the first place.

"What're you doing, anyway, Toni?"

"You didn't expect me to stay there in Asshole Central while you guys got to ditch? Hell no. So I just left right after you...no one stopped me."

"Makes sense," Sasuke agreed. "What was going on after we left?"

"I just said that I left right after you," Toni sighed. "I didn't stick around to see what your scandal caused."

"Funny," The raven said in a tone that showed no sign of any amusement.

"I'm not kidding. That was scandalous, right there. It'll probably make the front page, or the news."

"Awesome! I'm going to be on the news! Believe it!" Naruto announced to the empty corridor, pumping his fist in the air. Toni and Sasuke exchanged a look, and with perfect synchronization punched Naruto on either shoulder, right at the boney part that hurts.

"Ow!" Naruto howled, crossing his arms across his chest in effort to clutch both abused shoulders. "You people are evil...evil I say!"

"Thanks," They chorused.

Finally they had returned to the lobby and exited though the rotating front doors. Which ended up making the frustrated blond walk in circles after missing the right exit multiple times. Toni and Sasuke were already on the other side and found Naruto's predicament extremely hilarious...though in Naruto's opnion it wasn't even close to as funny as how much they made it seem.

Once he escaped the doors entrapment, Naruto reveled in the cool, clean, fresh autumn air, it was also, pleasantly sunny for the fall. The blond stretched out his limbs like a cats that had just gotten out of a cage. It felt good to feel free. The threesome casually strolled towards the general direction of Sasuke's car. The satisfying crunch of loose gravel under their feet reassured them with every step that they weren't in that hell hole anymore.

"You are a real moron, Dobe," Sasuke chuckled, still grinning from the sick enjoyment he got from Naruto's annoyance.

"Shut it...that door had a death sentence for me...yeesh."

"Well Naruto's stupidity and inability to get past doors aside, who knew Mr. Pretty Boy had a backbone?" Toni approved mockingly.

"Don't call me that_...Antoinette_."

"...You win this time, Uchiha," She gave in grudgingly.

"Get used to it."

"Don't use that snarky tone with me, Mister."

"Too late."

"You ain't as bad as I thought you were," Toni grinned, slinging a friendly arm around his shoulder.

"Thanks?" Sasuke said, raising an eyebrow.

"It's a compliment," Toni reassured.

"Well, I'm honored," Sasuke mumbled, indifferent as he pulled out his car keys. Pressing the unlock button to hear the familiar beep indicating that the doors were open. Right as they neared the sleek car, Naruto's stomach let out a loud growl.

"Whoa, is there a fox in your stomach? Cause that was just unnatural...and disturbing," Toni remarked sarcastically.

"Who wants ramen_?_!" Naruto cheered oblivious to Toni's comment.

"None of us, but you," Sasuke answered.

"So that is a yes?"

"Ugh...fine, Ichiraku's it is," Sasuke gave in after staring at Naruto's signature puppy dog eyes for a couple of seconds. The raven would give the world to those two ocean blue eyes...not that he would admit that...ever.

"You're paying, Teme!"

"Figured as much," He huffed, not that he could say it wasn't obvious.

"Umm...what's...ramen?" Toni asked hesitantly.

"...you _alien_!" Naruto screamed bloody murder style.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!** That was interesting? I have no idea what I feel about this chapter cause I am still in shock that I have 10, more or less, chapters...in the very beginning I wasn't even sure if I wanted to continue the story at all, but here I am all excited with it XD My writing style is pissing me off though...grr...

P.S. Sarai, you don't even know how furious I am at you using 'pretty boy' in your last chapter!...it makes me feel like I stole it from you DX (I'm just going to make myself feel better by saying great minds think alike...)

P.P.S.** I have a sideshot** for this story that takes place after this chapter, it is them at Ichiraku's...it's like a rogue chapter 11, but not XD **So go read it**...cause it's in Toni's perspective!


	11. Best Buds

**DISCLAIMER: I am formulating a plan to steal the rights to Naruto, so when I figure out how to I will tell you...'Maybe hire some ninjas' *mumbles to herself*  
**

**A/N:** YAYS! I had so much time to write over this weekend cause it was a 4 day one thanks to Veteran's Day and then a student free day XD I even have chapter 12 written! Ok, I know I say this for like every chapter but this _really _is a boring chapter that I had to write for a reason...and once you get done with it you will know why.

* * *

**Chapter 11:** Best Buds

* * *

-_One Week Later_-

After the escapade with Sasuke's dad and his engagement, everything had returned to its general normality for the blond. He went to school, hung out with friends, avoided bullies, grieved over homework assigned, and freaked out about tests. Only real difference was that every now and then Sasuke would sit with Kiba, Shika, and him during lunch.

Lately, he had been getting a whole lot of stares, giggles, points, and whispers when people thought that he wasn't looking. Naruto really didn't care to figure out why so he over looked it...it was probably something stupid. He was still the "new" student, there was probably just another bizarre rumor going around about him; just like what always happened in all the other high schools he had been attended as a new kid.

Naruto had better things to think about either way, he still had no idea whatsoever on exactly what had gone on between him and the Uchiha and didn't really want to know either. Naruto was confused and he would rather not think about it, plus the raven hadn't brought it up so he opted to ignoring it too. He was content with just being friends, or something that had a vague semblance to what one would call friends. They usually acted like the rivals they had always been: trying to one up each other at everything.

He fell into step with daily life, and had settled down into his new school that he would hopefully manage not to get expelled from; he was liking it here, but a little excitement to spice it up would be nice.

But today was special, today the blond was excited he had just gotten some life changing news and was dying to tell everyone. He was pretty sure that this news wouldn't really mean anything to them, but he had to tell someone before he imploded from keeping all this excitement to himself.

Lucky for him 4th period had just let out for lunch. Naruto basically jogged to their hidden lunch table, he considered it their little secret hide out; they called it that because was concealed by a massive weeping willow on the far side of the campus. The blond was overjoyed to see that Kiba and Shikamaru had already made it to the picnic table, well then again Shika probably didn't go to 4th period in the first place and had been here from the start.

"Kiba, Kiba, Kiba, Kiba!" Naruto repeated hyperactively, as he sat down next to the boy who was busy stuffing his face. He was practically bouncing in his seat as he waited for Kiba to answer. Naruto chose to stop, the old wooden bench they were sitting on wasn't exactly comfortable as is...or stable...

"Mmm?" Kiba hummed through his full mouth.

"I have grrrrreat news!" Naruto yelled into the poor boy's ear. Sounding like a bad version of Tony the Tiger in those Frosted Flakes commercials, the ones where the jingle got stuck in your head and repeated itself in your head to the point you would rather kill yourself then hear it repeat one more time.

"What happened?" Kiba asked properly, after swallowing.

"Not what happened; it's what's _going _to happen!"

"What's Dobe so excited about?" Sasuke mumbled as he situated himself at the table, directly across from Naruto, next to the resting Shika.

Sasuke had become accustomed to sitting with Naruto and his friends. The raven would go as far to say that he enjoyed lunch more now that he sat with all of them; Shika was very easy to get along with as long as you didn't wake him up, he wasn't much of a talker: Sasuke's type of guy. Kiba was more on the agitating side, he was neck and neck with the blond on the annoying scale. What bugged him like there was no tomorrow was the teasing he got from Naruto and pals for eating a salad everyday, they though it was a sissy lunch, or rabbit food, and constantly mocked him by asking if he was on a diet.

"He hasn't told us yet," Shika grumbled into his arms, "please, enlighten us before we die from anticipation."

"You will _never _believe what's going to happen!"

"We would be able to not believe _it _if you told us what _it _is," Kiba shot back in hopes to get Naruto to actually tell them what the hell was going on that was so important it had interrupted him eating. Didn't Naruto know by now that you weren't supposed to talk to him while he was eating? Or if you did it _had _to be important.

"Oh, yeah, 'kay. My best friend is coming! He's transferring here today!"

"Hey, I thought I was your best friend," Kiba whined jokingly.

"You are, Kibs! But he's my best friend from my old school."

"When's he coming?"

"I told you. Weren't you listening?"

"It's hard to when all you're doing is yelling," Shika grunted, he shifted further away from Naruto, sliding next to the edge of the bench in order to lessen the sound of the blond's excited yelling.

"Ok, ok. Today!"

"So then where is he?" Sasuke challenged.

"I don't know...but I think that he'll text me when he gets his lunch from his new locker."

"Have you seen him yet?" Kiba asked, squinting in concentration as he fished around in his brown bag as if he would be able to pull out more food if he just willed for it.

"Nope! But hopefully I won't have to wait much longer!"

As if on cue Naruto's phone buzzed loudly signifying that he had gotten a new text. The blond was so ecstatic that he fumbled his phone and ended up dropping it onto the concrete. He hurriedly picked it back up, dusted it off, did a quick one-over to make sure there was not too much damage from the drop, and proceeded to text back the the location of their lunch spot.

"That was him!"

"Figured as much, Dobe," The raven smirked as he picked at his salad with his fork, putting all of the tomatoes on one side...like he was saving the best for last.

"Not even you being a teme will get me down!"

"So are you going to tell us anything about this best friend?"

"Uh...what do you want to know?"

"A name would be nice, so we wouldn't have to refer to him as best friend all the time," Shika said pointedly.

"Oh, yeah name is -" Naruto was interrupted by a light tap on the shoulders. "Gaara!"

Naruto stood up and death grip hugged his old best friend.

"Get off," Gaara said straightforwardly.

"Good to see that you haven't changed a bit," Naruto grinned idiotically,"Gaara, this is Sasuke Uchiha, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shikamaru Nara, but we just call him Shika."

His friends waved in time with his introduction, letting Gaara know whose name matched up with whom.

"And guys, this is Gaara Sabaku," Gesturing to the red head, though there was no point in doing that cause there was no other person that he could be possibly referring to.

"Hey," Gaara grunted back to everyone.

"Sit down," Kiba invited, patting the empty spot he had made between him and Naruto.

Gaara excepted wordlessly. Sitting down, he took out a plain brown bag from his backpack and quickly started to eat.

The other guys analyzed the new boy through their peripheral vision.

Even though they were all sitting, they noted that the redhead was on the short side of the height spectrum, he was about level with Naruto, but that wasn't saying much. His hair was dyed a fire engine red, cropped relatively short, and arranged in shaggy spikes. His frosty green eyes were rimmed with an excess of eyeliner. His glare was intimidating, but the kanji "love" character tattooed to the side of his forehead was more off putting than anything else. It seemed ironic that this scary guy would get a tattoo that said love. And did this guy not have eyebrows...?

The boys couldn't fathom how their idiot Naruto befriended a freaky, delinquent guy like this, but this is Naruto they were talking about; he tended to make friends with everybody. I mean, come on, he even managed to get Sasuke _Uchiha _to sit with them at lunch close to everyday. He was a bona fide miracle worker when it came to the socially inept.

The boys continued to eat without a great deal of conversation, they were starving and have been waiting hours before they could eat, excusing them from niceties, like putting in the effort to talk while eating. But after they had all finished there was still a couple minutes left in lunch before the bell so they decided to question the new boy. Well, at least Kiba wanted to get to know the new kid better, Shikamaru was content just laying there and Sasuke had never been much of a social.

"Sooo, Gaara, what brings you to East Konoha High?" Kiba said conversationally.

"Expelled," Gaara mumbled.

Everyone, except Naruto, raised there eyebrows. It wasn't really that the news surprised them, they could picture him getting expelled with ease, but still...it was relatively unexpected.

"I was right! Somethings never do change," Naruto said happily, obviously not phased by the news of his expulsion.

"Hn."

"Uh, ok. So...why did you choose to come here, specifically?" The brunette tried again, he was looking for a longer than one word answer this time around.

"Been expelled from every other high school in this city...no choice," the redhead grumbled, as if it was the only reason in the world for why he would be here right now.

"Aw, Gaara, for a second there I thought you wanted to be back here with me."

"Yeah...no."

"Well, Gaara, we're all glad that you are here now," Kiba backed up.

"Sure."

Kiba was about to make another fail at an attempt at making the new guy warm up to them, but the bell cut him off, with that everyone gathered their things said their byes and parted ways.

* * *

Naruto and Kiba fast walked together towards the 300 quad to get to the science building, making sure not to be late to physics ever again. Their teacher, Mr. Orochimaru, was a freak! Although they were preoccupied by rushing to class, the unfriendly red head was still lingering on Kiba's mind.

"Gaara doesn't seem to like us much," Kiba stated thinking replaying the conversation that had happened just a couple minutes ago. He was unsure of what he was to make of the new kid, that guy didn't seem to like him much, or people in general.

"Nah, he just doesn't feel comfortable around strangers. Just wait 'til you find what he really is like."

"I think I'm scared."

"Haha, he's not as scary as he looks. Come on, I became friends with him easy."

"Yeah, well, I have a feeling you were one in a million."

* * *

Sasuke and Shikamaru leisurely made their way to AP Calculus BC in the 400 quad; Ms. Kurenai had a soft spot for Shikamaru, so he came late every day with no problem. Also, he knew the material better than the teacher, there was no need for him to attend class he could just show up and take all the test. They took the long route that snaked its way around the campus through all the trees that edged the school. Making sure to avoid campus aids and other teachers who would wonder why they weren't in class even though the second bell had already rung.

"What do'ya think about the new kid?" Sasuke asked, still trying to figure out what he thought about the redhead himself.

"Beats me," Shika replied halfheartedly, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"I think you have more of an opinion than just that."

"What? Do you want me to psycho-analyze him, or something?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Fine then. Gaara seems like a person that has never gotten much love in his life. His mom has probably passed away, therefore he must have gotten his tattoo as almost a symbol for the tangible love he was denied. Also, judging by the way he doesn't like to talk he is probably the youngest out of any siblings he may have. As you may have noticed he doesn't have eyebrows that is a sign that at some point in time he was in a gang. There is a big thing going on where gang members shave vertical lines in their brows. Gaara probably did that and ended up completely shaving them off when he decided to reform, or whatever. Also, he probably feels more than he will ever let onto, and he seems extremely attached to Naruto though he may not admit it seeing that his eyes always were more lively and attentive while Naruto was talking. I think there's something deep in their friendship that links them, something...something specific that bonds them together though they are polar opposites. What it is? I have no idea...so troublesome."

"..."

* * *

The last periods of the day passed by fast all of them, well the last _period _of the day passed by fast, considering they were all seniors so this year they decided to take only five classes this year, meaning they only had to attend one class after lunch until they were home free. Letting them leave school a whole hour before the freshman, sophomores, and most juniors; just another perk to being the top of the high school hierarchy.

This extra time let the boys hang out after school for a while now that they all owned cars and drove themselves home, finally having control over their own life. Thankfully not dependent on parents any longer, this freedom, as little as it was tasted sweet. Well, actually, Naruto and Kiba car pooled with each other, alternating whose turn it was to drive, whose car they were going to take, and of course, who was going to pay for the gas money this time around.

All the boys usually gathered by Naruto's locker because he was usually the last person done when it came to gathering his things. Plus, factoring in that they met up in the U section of the lockers, Sasuke was always there with them and stayed for a bit before he left for his job.

Yes, after Sasuke stopped associating himself with his dad he had also decided to get a job, that way he would be truly independent from his father since he didn't need financial support. He really didn't _need _to because he had a savings account with more than enough money to support him for his whole life, but taking a job was like a declaration that he was independent. Even though his father had yet to officially disowned him; Sasuke had no say either, for he was still only seventeen, or in other words, not a legal adult.

So as usual the gang met up with with each other in front of Naruto's locker. This time the new addition was already there standing talking to the blond.

"Hey, Naruto, Gaara," Kiba greeted, with Shika in tow.

"Sup?" Naruto mumbled back still facing his locker, trying to think of what books he needed to take home today. He quickly put his Physics book back in and picked his Pre-Calculus textbook out and then proceeded to slam his locker with unnecessary force.

"Nothing, last period was hella boring!" Kiba complained.

"Uh, Kibs, I know, I have that class with you," Naruto laughed, "Physics, we walk with each other everyday..."

"Oh yeah!" Kiba grinned. "I always forget cause we split to go to our lockers...hey you know I could be telling Gaara this not you."

"That's a lie," Shika yawned.

"I know...I just had to try."

"So, Gaara, how was your 5th period?" Naruto asked, curious to see who the red head had, and how he had liked the new school.

"I had Mr. Hatake for AP English," Gaara repiled emotionlessly, "all he did was read a porn book in class."

_AP?_ Kiba and Shika thought in disbelief.

"Yup, he does that," Naruto chuckled, "I have him too, but for 2nd period. We took a test took a test today though...on Macbeth. Did you have to take it?"

"Yeah."

"Did he run the scantrons though after you were all done before the class ended?"

"Yeah."

"Did he tell you what you got? He did for our class, I got a D. I was so mad, but most of the class failed. Mr. Hatake likes to mess with us on our test, to make them 'interesting' as he says. So don't feel bad everyone does bad on his tests. No one in our class got higher than a B minus."

"Sure. Whatever."

"So how did you do?"

"I got a hundred," Gaara shrugged, indifferent.

Kiba's jaw dropped at the prospect of this guy acing a test that was set for people to fail. Shikamaru was awestruck, not that it showed outwardly, either way the only people that ever do well on Mr. Hatake's test were Sasuke and himself. Not just any person could pass his tests let alone ace it _without _being in the class to begin with.

"Hah, way to show that teacher! Like I said some things never do change," Naruto grinned, slapping his friend on the back.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!** Yeah, so I wrote this chapter all to introduce Gaara as a character. I promise he makes things more interesting and he gets more interesting, but I first had to bring him into the story. Next chapter is going to be fun, though I won't tell you anything XD

Review?


	12. Say That Again

**DISCLAIMER: *Insert witty comment relating to how I don't own Naruto*  
**

**A/N: **Well guys...you should love me for this super fast update XD This is by far my favorite chapter! I'm soooo proud of it! A big thanks goes out to Magical Mistress Sarai...and of course, all my readers and reviewers! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter as much as I did!

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**Chapter 12: **Say That Again

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Thank God, it's Friday.

This week had been dragging on for Naruto, the majority of his teachers all chose to give their tests on this specific week because the next week was going to be Thanksgiving break. So their brilliant idea was to cram all their tests this week...as what? A present to the students? Yeah, didn't think so.

Naruto, for one, didn't know how to cope, all the classes were equally important so which one should he study for? If he didn't study properly he knew he wouldn't pass, so basically he had to decide which one he did and didn't want to pass. And in the end he gave up and studied for none of them. He despised life throughout the week, but it was now Friday and that means just a few hours longer until the five day break...well really a nine day if you count the weekends...whatever, just a couple more excruciating hours until sweet, sweet freedom.

The blonde waited in his regular spot next to the large oak that stood proudly in the middle of the quad, waiting for Kiba to show up so they could walk to 3rd period. True, they had different classes, but they still made it a habit to walk with each other to most of their classes whether or not they had it together. There was only four minutes left in nutrition; that is what their school called the fifteen minute break they had between 2nd and 3rd period, and Naruto was getting impatient.

Almost as if Kiba could sense Naruto's anger like an animal, he appeared right next to him with nachos falling out of his mouth. The blonde couldn't help but roll his eyes at the sight of Kiba eating even now. He knew that it was called nutrition because it gave kids a time to eat snacks, or something small, but close to no one actually took this time to eat anything; it was just a socializing period for the students who were all wishing that the day was done. Let alone eat something that was considered a whole meal during this time.

"Hey, Kit," The brunette smiled after stuffing the last of his nachos into his mouth.

"What took you so freakin' long?" Naruto complained, already starting towards his next class, with Kiba close on his heels.

"I was getting me some nachos!"

"You couldn't have done that at, I don't know? Lunch! That's the time most people eat at school," Naruto growled, still annoyed.

"Sorry, yeesh, what's the big deal? The bell hasn't even ra–" Kiba was rudely interrupted by a loud chime that sounded like a house door bell...was it supposed to be comforting? To Kiba that was the most offending sound he could have possibly heard at this moment.

"You were saying?" Naruto smirked, raising one eyebrow.

"Ugh...nothing..." The brunette grumbled, and started mumbling about how some God hates him up their under his breath.

Naruto had Government this period with Mr. Umino, but being the rebel he was he usually referred to all of his teachers on a first name bases...so he was heading to Government with Iruka; not that it mattered for the man was his legal guardian after all.

On the other hand, Kiba had Ceramics with a crazy, artsy, fresh-outta-college, weirdo called Deidara...he didn't even ask the kids to call him Mr...whatever his last name was; the guy was no more than four years older than his students. He probably wouldn't like teens calling him mister anyway because that would make him feel old. Plus, the guy says dude after every word. The two classrooms were far apart so Naruto dropped Kiba at his class then walked to his room alone.

"Sooo, what's been going on between you and Sasuke?" Kiba asked nonchalantly.

"Uhh, nothing," Naruto answered truthfully, wondering why he would ask something as stupid as that, the blonde had already explained the situation to him before, giving him no reason to ask again.

"Uhh, something."

"Nah-ah..."

"Yah-ha!"

Kiba picked up his pace making Naruto put in effort to keep up. This annoyed the blonde for he was having fun jumping from crunchy leaf to crunchy leaf; but there were very few since it had rained just yesterday dampening all the shedded leaves. So first the rain ruined the fun and now Kiba was doing it too, he could tell that this was going to be a bad day.

"I told you from the beginning it was all an act...to him and to me. So _why _would you ask something like that?" Naruto interrogated, "Plus, you know as well as I do that Naruto Uzumaki's straight as an arrow."

"Umm, no reason," The brunette answered a bit too quickly, tipping Naruto off that there was, in fact, a specific reason he was bringing it up. And so help him, Naruto was going to find out.

"Liar."

"Haha...no...so how was your second period?...mine was goo–"

"Kiba...you better tell me what the fuck's going on or I'll beat it out of you," Naruto threatened in a low voice.

"Oh, I would, I swear, but...hey look! There's my class! You know me, can't be late! See ya!" The dog boy pointed out in a falsetto, escaping behind the door right before Naruto could grab him by the scruff of his hoodie. Leaving the blonde to walk alone, with nothing but his thoughts for company...and that was never good...

_What the fuck was that about anyway?_

**_I don't know, but I guess it's obvious to more than just you that you have the hots for Sasuke._**

_No, sooo not true. There was something that was making him think that...something that made him bring it up. 'Cause he has asked me before, and I told him the answer too...so why ask again?  
_

**_Maybe the chemistry between you too at lunch was too much for any of them to ignore?_**

_We hardly talk at lunch...Sasuke hasn't brought up anything since the party...it was all for a convincing act that he did what he did._

**_Pfft...then Sasuke's a hella good actor then._**

_Pfft...Sasuke's hella good at everything he does._

**_Point._**

_Thank you._

**_Still doesn't mean I agree with you about it all being an act._**

_Of course it doesn't. When does it ever._

**_You know me so well._**

_I'm not sure if I'm proud of that._**_  
_**

"Uff...ugh...ow..." Naruto grunted, stumbling backwards for he had ran into something all too solid. He looked up to meet the glare of a skinny platinum blonde girl who had her hands on her hips, which was mirrored by the shorter pink haired beside her.

"I'm sorry." _What the heck's their problem?_

"You should be."

"Ok...Well, see ya...gotta go to class. Sorry for bumping into you," Naruto said hesitantly, unsure of why the two girls were still glaring at him. He said he was sorry didn't he?

He cautiously sidestepped and moved away from the two girls, not wanting to stick around any longer to find out what their issue was to risk tardiness. He thought he was in the clear when he felt a sharp tug and his arm, which caused him careen backwards and fall hard on his butt...in the middle of the hallway. Luckily, not many people were there to see it, but he was still embarrassed.

A faint pink dusted Naruto's cheeks, "What the hell_?_!"

"We should be asking you that!" They both yelled in perfect harmony, positioning themselves directly in front of the blonde making it evident that they wanted him to stay put.

"Do I even know you?"

"Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno," The girl evidently called Ino sneered, waving her hands to show who was who.

"Naruto Uzumaki," the blonde felt it necessary to introduce himself, too, for it was proper manners he had known all his life.

"Yeah, we know who you are."

"Umm how?"

"That's not the matter at hand!" The pink haired one known as Sakura chastised...loudly. She scowled at him, it was like she thought Naruto knew what was going on, and he was getting on her nerves. Naruto shuffled nervously, not knowing where these girls were going with all this was putting him on edge. This day was getting weirder and weirder.

"Uh, then what is?"

"Who are you to Sasuke-kun?"

"Sasuke-kun?" Naruto repeated, confused.

"Yes, Sasuke-kun."

"Dude, if you guys haven't gotten the message yet, we live in _America_. Why're you putting _Japanese _honorifics at the end of his name?"

"'Cause Sasuke-kun is Japanese!" That Haruno girl squealed.

"Uh-huh? Doesn't change the fact that well we aren't in Japan!"

"Stop changing the subject! We know what you did!"

"I did what?"

"Don't play dumb!"

"He's not playing; he really is that dumb," Shikamaru mumbled, as he casually strolled by not bothering to stop, or even wonder to find out why two girls were confronting Naruto and calling his dumb. No, he did none of that, instead he walked away before Naruto could pull him into the mess, in hopes that he would be able to clean whatever it is up.

"Shika!" The blonde yelled after his retreating figure. The spiky haired boy didn't so much as turn around, so Naruto was left to stare at his retreating figure...though he could have sworn that he heard a low "troublesome".

_Bastard!_

**_Like he would ever put himself in a 'troublesome' situation..._**

_I know but he could have done...I don't know...something!_

**_I don't think that would ever happen..._**

_Me either._

**_Then why did you even try?_**

_Wishing for a miracle?_

"Who was that?" Ino questioned eagerly, if she was an anime character there would be mini hearts in her eyes.

"My...so-called friend," Naruto growled infuriated. To make matters worse the late bell decided to ring at that moment. He was late. Crap.

"What's his name_?_!"

"Not telling." _But I did just yell it after him, this girl's way too stupid for Shika..._

"Wwwwwwwwhy not," Ino pouted. But the blonde was smacked by the pinkette beside her.

"Ino, we're here about Sasuke-kun!"

"Oh. Oh yeah! Clever...distracting me with that boy, but that won't work my heart belongs to Sasuke-kun."

"Well that's great. _Sasuke-kun_ will be thrilled to know he has a blonde bimbo chasing after him," Naruto snorted.

"If anyone's a blonde bimbo it's you!" Ino accused yanking out something from her purse and immediately stuffed it in his face before he could get a focus on what the hell the thing was. As if Naruto could see what she was holding if she put the damn thing that freaking close to his face. Oh yeah, she's quite the catch.

Trying to read cross eyed wasn't really working for him, so Naruto resorted to snatching the thing out of Ino's hand. He quickly identified it to be a magazine, and on the front cover was...hell no! How the fuck did they get a picture off Sasuke kissing him at the engagement party_!_? There were no paparazzi for what he could remember, but then again the grainy quality of the photo made him lean on the idea that it was taken by someone's cell.

_Dammit all!_

**_You're so screwed._**

_I thought you would be really happy about this?_

**_I am, but you are still screwed by all the girls like the ones standing in front of you._**

_No! I can hardly stand two of these..._things_...and you're telling me that there are more, and that they're all going to come after me?_

**_You're such a smart cookie...catching on to the obvious like that. I'm so proud._**

_Great! Now people are going to think I'm gay. More now than ever because they'll use this as fucking proof.  
_

**_You're right I _am _really happy about this._**

Naruto was going to continue arguing with himself, if he hadn't realized that Ino was apparently saying something to him.

"What? Say that again?" He asked frustrated because she kept talking while he was trying to figure out what she was blabbering about in the first place.

"Ugh...answer my damn question!"

"What question?"

"What's going on between you and Sasuke-kun_?_!"

"Nothing," Naruto said confidently, the girls on the other hand were not believing it...what did they want him to say? Telling them there was something going on between him and Sasuke would just make their crush gay, which then would crush their dreams to ever be with him. He couldn't figure out why they wanted him to admit so badly when they couldn't benefit from it at all. Girls never did make much sense to him anyway.

"That's such a lie. You're _kissing _him in this picture!"

"Photoshopped?"

"Why would they photoshop Sasuke-kun kissing a _nameless _guy and put it on the front of a magazine_?_!"

"Why do magazines ever do anything?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"To spread the truth!" Sakura responded with conviction.

"Magazines and truth are, like, antonyms."

"Anto-what?"

"Never mind."

"Hey! You kids over there! Just what do you think you're doing not in class_?_!" Naruto heard an angry voice call out to them. He turned around to be confronted an irritated Tsunade inching closer to them.

"Well girls, it has been such a pleasure talking to you, but seeing as the irritated principal is walking towards us and we're supposed to be in class. I think it's my time to leave before she realizes that it is me and goes apeshit on my ass," Naruto bowed elegantly and broke out into a mad dash away from the now, literally, fuming Tsunade.

The two girls scrunched their tiny noses at Naruto's use of profanities, disgusted.

"Hey! You never really answered our question!" Ino screech in disbelief.

"Sayonara, idiots!"

"Idiots?" Sakura humphed, she had hardly enough time to mutter that one word though, before it dawned on her that there was a furious principal right behind them...so they were stuck while Naruto had managed to escape...

"Ms. Haruno...Ms. Yamanaka?" Tsunade asked politely.

"Yes, Ms. Sanin?" They gulped slowly turning around to face her...that was probably no their best idea, because the look on the principal's face was frightening.

"What the hell are you doing my hallways when class started ten minutes ago_!_?"

* * *

Lunch time, Naruto's favorite time of the day. His whole day revolved on this measly forty-five minutes of the day.

He was so ready for lunch after 4th period which was P.E. with Gai...ok, go ahead laugh. Yes, Naruto was a senior forced to take P.E. because his last school didn't require any P.E. So it was a rude awakening when he came here for senior year to find out that there was a mandatory one year of P.E. to graduate from East Konoha High. It wasn't his fault, the school system screwed him over.

That is besides the point, the workout that Gai put them through was army training status; he was more than hungry by the time he was done. Gai preached that they should "embrace the energy they have in their youth, for it was a beautiful thing that was once in a lifetime". Just imagine him shouting that in your ear everyday while making you run five miles; it was like his bad mantra. But he would argue for a thirty-ish year old man he was bursting with so much energy it made Naruto want to puke; this is coming from the hyperactive blonde himself.

Naruto was so concerned with his stomach that it took him a couple of seconds to register that he had just bumped into someone. That had been happening way too often today.

"Sorry," Naruto said quickly, it was a knee jerk reaction.

"Who the fuck just walked into me?" The blonde shivered at the pure anger in his voice. He looked up to see just exactly he walked into...just to wish that he hadn't.

_Aw, shit._

**_What?_**

_I just bumped into Juugo!_

**_So...?_**

_You'll find out._

"Hey, pipsqueak! Was it you?" The boy asked, he towered over Naruto, which efficiently blocked off any possible escape route. He literally had his back against a wall, and since he had been walking to their secluded spot that was across campus there was little to no people that ever came by this path, or otherwise no one to hear his cries for help.

"Umm..." Naruto didn't dare answer. His eyes darted back and forth desperately trying to find any visible opening, just to be met with disappointment. He considered ducking under Juugo's arms or crawling under his legs, but that seemed too risky.

"I know you..." He trailed off, grabbing Naruto's face by a rough hand to make him look directly at him to get a better fix on his face.

"..." _Shit!_

"Aw, isn't it the little fag."

"..." _Damn all magazines to hell! Damn you, Sasuke! Dammit all!  
_

"Dude, Suigetsu!" The older boy called out to what looked like no one, Naruto couldn't see anyone, anyway, probably because there was a 200 pound guy obstructing his view.

"What?" A skinny, white haired teen answered, walking up from behind to the other boy's side, his sharp teeth glinting in the sunlight in his large grin for an overall chilling effect. He looked like a shark that had just smelled blood. That was never good.

"Looky, what we got ourselves here," Juugo laughed humorlessly, moving over slightly to the side to make room for the new guy to stand in full view of the blond.

"Aw, isn't it the little homo that's on every new local channel and newspaper," Suigetsu chuckled wickedly, "Isn't he cuter in person? Juugo, he looks kinda scared. What do'ya think?"

"I think you're right, Suigetsu."

"Let's justify his fear. What do'ya say?"

"I say I think you might've just read my mind." The large, orange haired boy smirked, cracking his knuckles, one by one.

_Scared yet?_

**_Yeah...dude, what are we going to do_?_!_**

_Nothing._

**_We can't just do nothing!_**

_We've got no other choice. There's no way to run or I would._

**_So, you're just going to let yourself get pounded on? And do nothing_!_?_**

_Yes, I promised Iruka._

Naruto fell to his knees when he felt the first blow connect to his abdomen. He let out a long drawn out groan, thoroughly winded. He felt his legs sink into the loose ground; the damn rain had made the soft ground so it gave fast to his weight. Suigetsu kicked him in the stomach again forcing to him to fall on his hands, he was bowing to them with his forehead touching the grass. But, they weren't going to let him stay on the ground kneeling for much longer; they wanted to get their fun out of this. He could feel himself being dragged by the collar of his shirt back to his feet.

Right as they pushed him to stand up properly, he was just to be knocked back down by a solid punch to his left shoulder. Forcing Naruto to stagger backwards and slam into the wall behind him, slowly sliding down the length of the wall to sit on the floor. He made sure not to make any noise this time, not wanting to give them the satisfaction to hear him in pain. He continued to glare at the other boy as he stood back up by himself. This didn't sit well with Juugo, he had wanted to hear the blonde to plea for mercy, not be defiant.

"Hey, blondie, there's so much more to come. How 'bout we fix that pretty little face of yours?" Naruto didn't say a word, further fueling Juugo to put extra force in the punch to Naruto's cheek. Apparently, he had bad aim too for the blow ended up splitting Naruto's lip open; he could feel the warm gush of blood trail down his chin, and dribble down to stain his shirt.

"Why the fuck aren't you saying anything? Beg for mercy, or something, and we might just think 'bout letting you go," Suigetsu suggested evilly.

"Never," Naruto replied strongly, his pride would never sink that low.

"That does it!" Juugo snapped, he grasping the blond's neck hauling him up and pinning him against the wall. Naruto was choking; he needed air. He fruitlessly clawed at the larger kid's hand, which easily completely encircled his neck. Juugo had raised the blonde a good foot off the ground so that they would be eye level when he started talking, his face was just inches away.

"Little faggot thinks he's all that," Juugo jeered, spit flying, "I'm not surprised you're gay though, but who knew that Uchiha was a cocksucker too."

"Say that again," Naruto growled.

"Hard of hearing today? Who knew _Uchiha _was a cocksucker too," Suigetsu repeated in place of Juugo, making sure to emphasis each syllable.

Something inside Naruto snapped, his self-restraint crumbled at hearing the insult aimed towards Sasuke. Juugo could insult him and hurt him; it was his problem, but dragging in Sasuke was just unfair. This guy needed to be put in his place, and Naruto was more than happy to be the one to do it.

The change was noticeable on the blond's face. Juugo flinched, though his grip didn't waver. Naruto raised his leg and kicked with as much force as he could muster to the place where it hurts the most. Juugo let go of his neck while falling to the ground holding himself, as Naruto landed gracefully back on his feet.

"Why you-" Suigetsu wasn't able to finish his sentence because Naruto moved forward and lashed out at the boy before he could react. The strength behind the punch surprised Suigetsu, who tumbled backwards by the sheer, unexpected power behind it.

Juugo had dragged himself up and was ready to do some serious damage. Naruto knew that his speed was his edge in this fight; he dodged the other boy's fist, dancing to the side while hopping over a moaning Suigetsu to avoid tripping. Juugo's body, unfortunate for him, kept following the path of the swing, pulling him to face away from Naruto. Unbalanced and disconcerted, Naruto took this chance to crouch to the ground, spinning with his leg outstretched to physically sweep Juugo off his feet; his head making a sickening cracking sound against the brick wall.

The white haired boy had managed to pick himself by this time, but was clutching his stomach, and winced in time with his movements. This didn't go unnoticed by Naruto, he dashed to the other boy's side wanting to knock him out with one last hit because he didn't want the fight to last much longer...he was hungry and there was ramen, courtesy of Sasuke, calling his name. Plus, the longer this fight carried on the higher the chance that someone would see and tell a teacher, or another figure with power to punish. With a blur of a jab, the blonde hit Suigetsu square in the jaw propelling him to the ground.

_Yup, he's unconscious. Ok, one down one to go, then some food. Gosh, first Gai for P.E. and now this...so not worth it._

**_Mohammad Ali's in _****_da hizz-ous_****_!_**

_And leaving the '__hizz-ous'__ before he gets caught. We've gotta wrap this up._

Naruto could see the fire in Juugo's eyes, the massive boy came barreling towards him arms open wide almost as if he wanted to bear hug him, but a nagging feeling told Naruto that it wasn't the reason. The blonde ducked in time to pass right under Juugo's arm; an advantage to being short. The other boy wasn't immediately able to stop, this gave Naruto enough time to position himself.

Juugo turned around the outrage spelled clearly across his face. He started back towards Naruto with intents to kill, the blonde stopped his oncoming attack with a short hit to the chest. This was just to get Juugo to stand still if just for a second. That second was ample time for Naruto to land one powerful kick to the side other boy's torso, Naruto could feel Juugo's rib bones give under his leg. Successfully getting the boy to finally fall to the turf, knocked out; he most likely had a concussion and a set of broken ribs...that sucks.

The petite blonde dusted his hands off admiring his handy work. He knew he also looked like a mess though, for the first half of the fight he wasn't fighting back. So he had taken some damage, nothing some warm ramen couldn't solve. Well, it wouldn't solve the grass, mud, and blood stains that now decorated his clothes; he must be grimy too, from being on the wet ground himself.

Naruto finally focused on a figure standing only a few feet behind were Juugo had fallen.

"...hey, Sasuke."

"..."

"Did you see all that?" Naruto asked hoping for a no, though it was obvious by his dumbstruck expression that there was no way he didn't see it all.

Sasuke just nodded mechanically, speechless. Naruto waited for him to snap out of it and talk because, as much as he would like to, he didn't read minds. So Sasuke wasn't making things any simpler. Why Sasuke didn't help him when Juugo and Suigetsu were wailing on him, Naruto couldn't figure out, but then again that is probably the part he missed. He must have only seen the Juugo and Suigetsu getting their asses handed to them by the tiny blond.

"Wha-what was all that? I came to check where you were since you weren't at the table and I...I saw you beating up two of the toughest guy in school."

"Umm...I'm good at fighting...?"

"Hah..." Sasuke laughed dryly, "I can see that...why? How?"

"Uhh, did I ever mention that I was in a gang?" The blonde grinned awkwardly, embarrassed that in the end Sasuke did find out this way.

"But you have eyebrows_!_?"

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**Thanks for reading!** That was a monster of a chapter...I loved it! Did you guys like it as much as I did? Haha, well, itachisgurl93, you totally called the gang thing...you deserve a cookie, but I don't have one...^.^; I also have no idea when the next update will be though...I think I deserve a break after writing this beast XD

Now I'm off to catch up on US History notes...DX


	13. Jinchuuriki

**DISCLAIMER: Quiz time!...I, Kreatyve, **blank** (do/don't) own Naruto. **

_**(If you put "do" then...you fail ;)**_

**A/N: **Meh...counting down the days til break...truth be told I am pretty disappointed about how time isn't moving faster for me ;) Ok, guys I felt bad that I didn't update over Thanksgiving break though I had a week off, but before you kill me, I really was doing something everyday...I swear by the new movie Tangled! So to appease you I hope this mediocre chapter will suffice XD (doubt it)

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**Chapter 13: **Jinchuuriki

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"Yes, I do have eyebrows," Naruto said, raising one clearly existent eyebrow at Sasuke's comment, "But what the hell does that have to with anything_?_!"

"You...no...how...eyebrows...what...Shikamaru said...but Gaara doesn't...A _gang_!" Sasuke sputtered wildly, crazily gesturing at something Naruto couldn't see. If anyone saw Sasuke now he would never live it down. It looked like the Uchiha was mentally retarded.

"Umm...Sasuke are you alright?" The blonde questioned, wondering if he had gone insane from shock. Sasuke was making a spectacle if himself and Naruto didn't want to risk anyone walking in on them, even if the chances were close to none. So he grabbed the still muttering Sasuke and dragged him across the length of the grass and behind the building that he had fought next to.

"Explain!" The semi-coherent raven commanded.

"Uh...Ok...well back in the day I was a rebellious child. This was before I was adopted by Iruka. I was passed from foster home to foster home, never anywhere permanent. And I wasn't involved in the best of stuff, one being a gang..." Naruto grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. He kept his eyes trained down not quite sure if he wanted to see Sasuke's reaction to all that he was saying right now. The texture of the ground was very fascinating after all.

"More."

"More what?" The blonde asked, eyes snapping up.

"Explain more."

"Umm...there isn't that much more to say. I was kinda depressed, hated my life. I probably longed for a sense of family, or that sounds like something a psychiatrist would say; so I joined that gang. I met Gaara there...we became friends," Naruto elaborated, rather unwillingly. He was now playing with his fingers, anything to distract him from this conversation. The blonde had made it a point not to tell anyone about his past, he didn't want to risk losing the friends he had made by the fear incited by his shady past. All the efforts had he put in were gone by his inability to control his anger, but he was completely justified for beating the living day lights out of Juugo in his mind.

"Gaara_!_?"

"Yeah...I thought you would've guessed by now that that is how we know each other?" The blonde said, surprised that the raven hadn't put two and two together.

"A gang?" Sasuke floundered.

"Yeah, Sasuke, a gang. A fucking gang! You have said that five times now!"

"I can't picture you in a gang!"

"Why the hell not?"

"'Cause you're girly and wimpy looking."

Naruto's facial expression looked close to murderous, but he was kind of happy at the same time. He was happy that Sasuke wasn't acting scared or shying away from him, sure he wasn't accepting the fact in question; _but _it isn't like he wasn't trying to understand and running away instead like Naruto had pictured anyone would do when they found out. Plus, the Uchiha was way girlier in his mind, yet he had the gall to call Naruto girly, and on top of that, _wimpy_.

"Do you want me to kick _your _ass as proof...since Juugo and Suigetsu wasn't enough," he snarled.

Sasuke blinked, "No, but no...it can't work like that!"

"But it can and it does. Can you get over it, please?" Naruto grumbled semi-politely, making sure to put on a thousand watt smile to sell it.

"No! It doesn't makes sense you're just so _happy _all the time there's no way you were ever in a gang!"

"I'm getting no where with you!" The blonde shouted throwing his hands in the air, almost in surrender. He couldn't take the raven's adamancy on not believing him. What did he want? For Naruto to tell him that kicking Juugo's and Suigetsu's asses was a fluke, or due to luck? Yeah, that sounded really believable.

"You're lying to me," Sasuke accused, eyes narrowing greatly crossing his own arms defensively.

"Why the hell would I freakin' lie to you_?_!"

"I don't know, but you are!"

The blonde was done. He knew that Sasuke wanted proof, he wanted specifics, something he could verify. Naruto would give him something to think about. He knew for a fact that if he told Sasuke this that he would be more disbelieving than he was for the original argument, but at least everything would be out in the open air.

Naruto latched his hands onto the the startled Uchiha's shoulders and shook him in time with each of his words, "Ugh...Am not! I was in a gang called the Jinchuuriki, for God's sake!"

"The...the what?" Sasuke asked, thinking he hadn't heard quite right, mentally taking a step back.

"The Jinchuuriki...?"

"You were in _the _Jinchuuriki?"

"Yeah...?"

"You, Naruto, were in _the _Jinchuuriki?"

"Yes!"

"You, Naruto Uzum—"

"God dammit! Yes! I was the fucking _leader _of the Jinchuuriki!" Naruto yelled in frustration. He was fed up, this conversation was going no where. He pushed away from the raven and turned his back, and started walking through the little pseudo-ally they were in, running his hand along the brick as he went. His lunch was still calling for him, and his stomach was calling back...loudly. All the running, fighting, and yelling was wearing him thin. So his brilliant idea was eat now talk later. But before he turned into the open back field something Sasuke said stopped him and forced him to swing back around.

"Ha...now I know you are lying...the leader of the Jinchuuriki was well known as Kyuubi...the nine tails fox demon..."

The blonde smirked coyly, "Well, yeah. Duh. My nickname. _Naruto _is hardly a fear inducing name."

**_Walk away while he is still stunned...it'll make you look cooler._**

_I'm all over it._

* * *

Gaara was dying.

No, not literally. But on the inside piece by piece of him was fading into the distance...yes, he had been left alone to eat with Kiba...

Ok, sure, Shikamaru was there...but surprise, surprise he was asleep. Or he was a very good actor at being asleep, both were highly plausible.

Ever since that one black haired kid had left to go find out where had Naruto had disappeared off to, this loud mouthed brunette had been talking to him. He was tad perturbed that this kid wasn't intimidated into silence yet, but Naruto was known to be just like this and it would only make sense he would find that one guy in the world who was he twin in his ability to talk.

The fact that Gaara wasn't responding back to anything he was saying didn't discourage him as the red head had hoped. Or even the exact opposite, he might have been empowered in the way that Gaara hadn't told him to shut up.

So here the red head was sitting alone on one side of the bench, chewing slowly on his sandwich trying to make it last as long as humanely possible. Glaring holes into the rough, knotted, grained panel wondering when Naruto would get here with that ghostly pale kid. But in a small corner of his head he thought it was funny how similar Kiba and Naruto were...it was almost as if Naruto was the one sitting right next to him...eating away at his mind.

"So...what does your tattoo say?" Kiba prodded.

"Love."

"Ha...really?"

"No, I lied to you."

"Why would you do that? What does it really mean?" The scruffy boy whined; he had stopped all that he had been doing, i.e. eating, and turned his face to fully look at Gaara with puppy dog eyes. The stare was disconcerting, it really threw Gaara off to the point he couldn't make up another lie.

"Ugh...it really means love"

"The why did you say that you lied when you said that?"

"Nevermind," Gaara mumbled as he mentally facepalmed, noting to never ever use sarcasm in front of Kiba again. It did more harm than good. He resisted the urge to bash his forehead against the nice, solid, hard wood...repeatedly.

"Why'dja get it?" The boy pushed.

"'Cause."

"'Cause what?"

"Just 'cause."

"Jus' 'cause what?"

"Just because."

"Just because what?"

This guy was impossible. Why wouldn't he take the hint that he really didn't want to talk about himself? And he wouldn't let anything go without getting the damned answer. Gaara was pretty sure that he like it more when the brunette was rambling on about his various dogs. Well his family's various dogs since he only personally owned one.

"It was an intiation thing. Ok? God dammit! I don't know why you care so much!" Gaara growled.

"Well isn't obvious? I want to get to know my new friend," Kiba smiled earnestly.

That struck Gaara hard. How could this guy so easily call him a friend? Why was he not afraid? How come he didn't shy away from him, just like the rest of the world? What did he see that made him even consider wanting to be friends with him?

Something inside the red head soften.

He decided he would go easy on Kiba when he kicked his ass for being annoying.

The red head went back to eating his turkey sandwich. The bite occupied his mouth, but not so much his mind; Gaara was still thinking about how stupid Kiba was to think that he would be friends with him just like that because he said that he already considers him one.

"So...initiation for what?"

"A gang."

"You _are _in a gang!"

"I _was _in a gang."

Gaara waited for the inevitable freak out from the boy. He was going to be scared out of his mind now knowing that the red head was an ex-gang member. He would want nothing to do with him...just like all the others. Now all he had to do was wait until Kiba snapped out of his stupor for him to hear the brunette to tell him to stay the hell away.

"That's so cool!"

"...what?"

"Well not that you were in a gang. That isn't a 'good' thing, but come on that is such a cool thing to be able tell people!"

"Really? You would be the first."

"First to what?"

"To find it cool."

"Oh...weird."

"Yeah, weird," Gaara agreed, though he was referring more to how odd the hyperactive brunette acted, but that he didn't feel like explaining.

He watched intently as Kiba went back to attacking his bag of chips. Grumbling whenever he accidentally dropped onto the dirty table or the concrete, but then mumbled something about the five second rule before stuffing it as one piece down his throat.

Maybe he was a different breed of human?

"So...what was the name of your gang?" Kiba asked going back in his effort to keep a conversation going between him and the red head. He hoped that now he might get a proper conversation, where both parties were talking, not just him. After all, Gaara looked just a bit less like he wanted to kill someone.

"It wasn't _my _gang...I was second in charge. We were called the Jinchuuriki before we disbanded."

"No! Way! I have heard of them. They were, like, awesome. And unbeatable! What was you nickname?"

"Ichibi."

"The one tailed..." Kiba trailed off in awe, "But that is a lame nickname when you think about it...I think I should call you something cooler."

"..."

"Oh got it," the brunette snapped happily, "I'll call you Mr. Raccoon."

He took back what he said about Gaara looking like he didn't really want to kill someone. He looked like he was going to kill someone in the next three seconds, and Kiba had a bad feeling that it was going to be him. Instead of waiting to find out his fate he decided to change the subject to a less blood spilling path.

"Ok, a no on the new nickname, " Kiba said quickly, "so...what was the Kyuubi like?...he is, like, the most powerful guy in the world, right?"

Gaara snorted.

_It appears that Naruto hasn't told them yet... I don't think he would mind me telling this guy. I think it would be fun to watch his reaction._ Gaara thought evilly.

"You know _exactly _what the Kyuubi's like."

"Uhh...no I don't. I have never met him, or anything."

"I would rethink that if I were you."

"So you're saying I know this 'Kyuubi'?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, do I know him well?" Kiba asked, moving his head to look down to notice that he had dropped some pudding on his jeans, from keeping his spoon frozen in midair for too long with gravity still at work. He hurriedly ripped off part of his brown bag and used it to smear away the fallen precious dessert from his light washed jeans.

"Well enough...but apparently not enough to know he's the Kyuubi."

Kiba looked like he was deep in thought but clapped his hands suddenly while blurting out, "Sasuke!"

"...no...not even close. It's someone you will never suspect."

"Shikamaru, my man!" Kiba grinned, swinging his arm onto his resting friend, "No one would _ever _suspect this guy."

"Leave me out of this," Shika sighed, snuggling back into his arms.

"No. You're completely wrong...again."

"Umm...it's Shino! He's pretty secretive!"

"No."

"Then it has to be!...I got nothing..."

Gaara was close to punching the defeated looking Kiba; he went through all his close friends but deliberately missed the right answer. He wondered why he was even wasting his time trying to get him to guess. But it would be a lie if he said that he wasn't enjoying himself just a little by messing with Kiba.

"Kiba you can't guess that it's—"

"Naruto! It's Naruto, dammit!" Shika yelled—or as close to yelling as he would get since it was "troublesome"— in annoyance; he knew Kiba would never get it on his own. He briefly looked up just to see the poor brunette's shocked face, his mouth must have been half way to the ground, and his eyes were close to popping straight out of his head by the intensity they were already bulging out of his sockets.

All the pudding that had been on the spoon he had been holding spilled onto his pants when he let go of it out of astonishment this time. No saving them now.

"Wha— no. No way, there's no way in hell that Naruto is the Kyuubi!"

"It's true."

"Oh yeah, then where is his love tattoo?" The brunette challenged.

"We all have a different type of tattoos."

"So...?"

"His is on his stomach...or so you can understand: concealed under his clothes at all times."

"Oh...No wonder he wouldn't get naked with me!"

_This guy needs to think before he talks. Or he is going to get into some deep trouble. _Gaara grinned...internally.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!** Ok that was a whole lot of nothing :P That was a so-so chapter in my mind...I felt that last time you guys were angry that there was no Gaara in the last chapter 'cause so many of you who usually review didn't TT_TT So I made sure there was extra Gaara this chapter! Oh guys...Magical Mistress Sarai has new AU Naruto story called The Apprentices of Bakers Street!...GO READ IT! What are you doing still reading what I am writing? Come on, get, go! Read it and stop reading this! Seriously, you guys are bad at following instructions...hmph...XP GO!


	14. In the Open

**DISCLAIMER: I think I will update on April Fool's just to say that I finally own them...so seeing that it's December they are still unattainable.**

**A/N:** So I was like really in the mood to write this week though it hadn't been a long time since I updated...but then I started reading Death Note...and yeah...well end of story XD But updating one week after is still pretty damn good I think...so here is another chapter...I can't say it is a filler chapter, but is kind of a setting everyone (being the characters) straight chapter XP

* * *

**Chapter 14: **In the Open

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke walked in silence towards their lunch spot, even though lunch was close to over; but the blonde claimed that he could down his ramen in the time remaining and then some.

The look on the young Uchiha's face made it seem that he was still trying to place all the new information on Naruto in its designated spaces. But they weren't fitting in, and it was frustrating him that all of this had been such a shock to him. Close to nothing ever surprised him because he just knew everything. He was wired when it came to info on people and their background, thanks to his background.

Naruto was pretty content with Sasuke's reaction. It felt good to know that he was the first guy to ever put this dumbstruck look on the raven's face. No one should ever underestimate Naruto Uzumaki, that is a fact. He hoped that their friendship, or whatever the hell their relationship was stayed the same after this revelation truly sunk in.

Naruto was about to say something to Sasuke, right before he was tackled from his blindside.

He hit the ground with a resounding "umph", the blonde was getting ready to flip over his attacker so that he could go Chuck Norris on their ass, before he realized who it was.

"Kiba?"

The brunette didn't respond, he kept Naruto pinned down. He scooted up Naruto's legs so that he was sitting directly on Naruto's hips.

"What the fuck, Kibs?...Get off! You're suffocating me!"

Kiba still didn't say anything back. He just brought his hands back down to the hem of Naruto's shirt and pushed forcefully to ride his shirt up. This is when Naruto began to struggle. He had no idea what was going on, but this was just weird.

Sasuke wasn't enjoying how once again he had no clue as to why Kiba was straddling the blonde. He didn't care to do anything to help Naruto either, he just stood their and watch. He was surprised to see that both Gaara and Shikamaru had joined him in the audience, wordlessly.

"What's going on?" Sasuke wondered out loud, the question wasn't directed to anyone in particular.

"Beats me," Shika yawned.

"Really?"

"No, not really, I know exactly what's goin' on but I don't feel like explaining it all."

"That's sounds more like you."

Kiba was still trying to pull Naruto's T-shirt off. The blonde reasoned that this was a joke cause there is no other reason.

"Rape! Rape!" Naruto yelled, as he tried to kick Kiba off. The brunette moved right on time to avoid what would have neutered him.

"Aw, shut it, Kit," Kiba said finally, he managed to pull up the shirt just enough to get a good look at Naruto's stomach. There was just as Gaara had said, that odd swirl patterned that the Kyuubi was known for, or so he had found out a few minutes ago.

"You weren't kidding, Gaara. He has a tattoo right where you said he would!"

Gaara just nodded with a bored look on his face. It wasn't like he was going to be wrong.

Sasuke was busy trying and failing at not staring at the blonde's exposed stomach. He really was bronze all around; and as much as he wrote the blonde off as girly and whimpy he had a clearly defined six pack that was hard to miss. Well it would be hard to miss when you were staring as intently as Sasuke was. And that tattoo, surrounding his bellybutton...it was so odd, tribal almost.

"Gaara, you told him!_?_" Naruto yelled infuriated, lifting his head up just enough to glare at the emotionless red head. How could Gaara tell his deepest secret so easily? Naruto knew that since he told Sasuke he would have to tell Kiba too, and Shika. But that is just it, _he _would tell them not the red head...on his own accord.

"Hn."

"Don't you 'hn' me, Mister. How the hell could you do that?"

"I knew you were going to tell Cockatoo over here, so might as well tell this dog boy too."

Naruto let out a laugh in time with Kiba when he figured that 'cockatoo' Gaara was referring to was Sasuke. Now that they thought about it his hair style was very bird-like...but they were leaning more towards a duck's ass, or something more along those lines.

Sasuke himself looked slightly offended, but he wasn't going to say that to the new guy. His pride was damaged, but he didn't want to let anymore disappear by saying that his "feelings were hurt".

"How did you know I was going to tell him?"

"I really didn't, I just guessed to use it as an excuse. But I now know that you did. So, no harm no foul. You'd have to tell this idiot, anyway,"Gaara said pointedly, "I saved you the trouble."

"Oh yeah, this was no trouble for me at all," Naruto joked, "Just getting tackled and half raped...Yep, no trouble at all."

"Oh, hah, yeah. Sorry 'bout jumping and attacking you out of the blue...I just had to know!" Kiba grinned, "and how could you keep this from me!_?_"

"I didn't want anyone to know 'cause I thought you guys might be afraid of me 'cause of this."

"Hell nah, man! This is, like, the coolest thing ever! My best bud's _the _Kyuubi...how many other guys could say that? You're beast! The legend of the Kyuubi is huge...you're admired by millions 'cause you always fought for good...cheesy as it sounds. It's true!"

"Well that's reassuring, now I know," the blonde said patiently waiting for Kiba to realize that he was still on top of him.

"I would never hate ya, man. Come on, you're the brother I always wanted, but my mom didn't..."

"That's real nice and all, Kiba...but would you mind getting the fuck off of me!"

The brunette jumped up and off Naruto quickly.

"Damn, fatass," Naruto growled right as he felt the after effects of having Kiba's knees on his ribcage for that long. He rubbed his abused stomach gently as if to relieve the pain; he would get over it soon as he got that ramen he desperately needed, but was constantly being denied. He stayed slightly bent, standing up straight seemed to be quite the challenge.

Kiba felt bad that he hadn't realized that he was still sitting on the poor blonde...who already looked battered. Wait...was that a bloody lip? He knew that he couldn't have done all that just by staying on him for too long. What's going on?

"Whoa, Kit! What happened to you? You look like a mess!"

"Nothing."

"Lies!"

Sasuke noted that Naruto really did look worn now. He decided to do the nice thing for once and take care of Kiba for Naruto. God knows how Kiba never let anything go without annoying the answer out of you, well at least Gaara knew.

"He just finished beating up Juugo and Suigetsu."

"You what!_?_" Kiba asked, wide eyed. His overall facial expression was comical. Naruto thought it was funny to see Sasuke's reaction after the ass-whooping and telling him he was part of the Jinchuuriki, but Kiba's look was golden. If movie directors wanted to know how to do a genuinely surprised face all they had to do was glance at the brunette.

The blonde just smiled through his crusted, split lip.

"But Naruto those are the toughest, meanest, roughest guys in school! They're feared by everyone! No one ever dares messes with them! The will kill you if you just look at them the wrong way! You couldn't have!" Kiba ranted in pure disbelief, trying to picture the less than impressive sized blonde taking on those guys.

"I think you're forgetting who you're talking to...I'm the Kyuubi that you just made a huge fuss over about...no one gets the best of me! Believe it!"

Kiba put Naruto in a friendly headlock, along with a friendly noogie. The blonde just laughed...there was no fear in Kiba, it was a relief. It was just like any other day.

Sasuke was a tad bit annoyed that the brunette could so casually touch his blonde.

_**There we go again with 'your' blonde. You don't own him...**_

_Yet._

_**Wait, what?**_

_Shit, uh...nothing._

"So why did you kick Juugo and Suigetsu ass, anyway?"

"I bumped into him...he then proceeded to call me any term in existence that means gay."

"Oh...so you found out..."

"Found out about what?"

"That you and Sasuke have been put out publicly as an item."

Naruto gritted his teeth at the thought, "Yes, unfortunately, I found out from two of Uchiha's crazed stalkers. It looked like they were going to kill me. How could I have not known this, by the way?_!_"

All of them started moving back towards the lunch table; there was no point just standing there. After checking his watch Kiba declared that they only had seven minutes left in lunch...Naruto was going to sprint to the table to get his damn ramen if he had to. Shika, Gaara, and Sasuke trailed the other two, not caring to catch up since they knew that Kiba was far from done when it came to asking questions.

"Known what?" Kiba asked, a moment behind.

Naruto elaborated, "that magazines and newspapers were putting me on the front pages."

"No only that, I think I saw you on a newscast."

"See! Not only those but apparently newscasts, too!" He cried, outraged.

They had made it to the picnic table after a minute. As angry as Naruto was at the world, he was overjoyed to see that familiar cup sitting on the wood inviting him in. He took the invitation gladly, jumping onto the rough bench seat, and wolfed down its content in close to one gulp. Smacking his lips, satisfied, after he had downed all the extra soup.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Well, Dobe, let's think. Do you watch the news, or read teen girl gossip magazines, or even the newspaper?"

"No."

"Easy as that. There's your answer on how you didn't know all this," the raven smirked.

"Ok then, Mr. Smartypants, how come _you _didn't know about all this then?"

"How do you know that I didn't know?"

"Did you know?"

"No," he admitted unwillingly.

"Ok then," Naruto gazed expectantly back at Sasuke waiting for his answer.

The blonde was a little sidetracked as he nonchalantly slipped a bag of chips out from Kiba's brown bag while the brunette was busy having a one sided argument with Shikamaru. He grinned happily when Kiba took no notice of his loss. Naruto opened the bag with extra vigor, relishing in the sound of plastic tearing open, and attacked the defenseless potato chips inside.

"I've gotta job now...I don't have time to even watch the news. I go from school, to work, to home, do homework or study, and then fall asleep. No time."

"Oh yeah...hmm...so where do you live now?"

"Still at the mansion. It's like I live there alone, Father's never there...not that he ever was. And I don't think he would let me leave."

"He has no power over you!" The blonde said indignantly.

"Well he kinda does until I turn eighteen," Sasuke stated bluntly.

"Damn laws...and their lawliness..."

"Lawliness isn't a word, idiot."

"It is now. And I already hate it."

"I would expect no less from a gangster," Kiba chuckled.

Naruto quickly set him straight with a no nonsense punch to the upper arm. Kiba howled a bit over dramatically then recanting profusely.

Before Sasuke could ridicule him more about how stupid he was acting, or how childish it was to make up a word just because your vocabulary doesn't have a better one, the bell rang.

After a whole lot of grumbling, Naruto and Kiba set off together not bearing to think about the Physics lesson they would have to go through today. Shikamaru and Sasuke decided to stay back for a while and hide it their little oasis; they didn't need to attend class they were only doing a review of area under the curve. Gaara, on the other hand, got up silently, threw away his trash, and left alone to the torture known as Mr. Kakashi's class.

* * *

Fifth period was over, school was over. They were free men, the weekend was theirs to own.

They had gathered around Naruto's locker just like any other day. Shika and Kiba coming together from the other side of the lockers. Whereas, Gaara was relatively close, and Sasuke was, well, right there either way.

They laughed about how the last period went by so slowly, slower than the whole day combined; joking about how they paid more attention to the clock than to the teacher. And what all their cooky teachers had subjected their class to this time. The spent a good chunk of time talking like this before figuring out that they were still on campus when there was no need for that.

"Let's all go to my house!" Naruto suggested loudly.

"Hell yes!" Kiba quickly followed.

"Hn," Gaara grunted.

"What a drag," was all that came out of Shikamaru's mouth. But Naruto had known him long enough that in reality that was a yes too.

All that was left was Sasuke.

The blonde turned about face to look directly at the ever silent raven. Sasuke was still looking into his open locker, searching for the last book that he needed. Double checking to see if he had them all because it's so annoying when you leave a textbook you need for homework in your locker over the weekend.

"You don't have work today, do you, Sasuke?"

Sasuke moved his head slightly to peer at the blonde from the corner of his eye before snapping back to his locker. Once he knew he had everything he shut his locker door and turned properly to face Naruto. The midnight gaze was rather intense for some reason.

"No, I don't. My boss's nice enough to give Fridays off on top of Saturday and Sunday," the raven answered slowly.

"So...?" Naruto looked expectantly.

"So what?"

"Are you coming?"

"Coming where?" Sasuke said rather stupidly.

"To my house_?_!" Naruto shouted, surprised that it was taking the brilliant Uchiha so long to figure out what he was asking.

"Oh, I was invited?"

"Well, yeah, duh. I did say 'let's all'...I think you're part of all," the blonde said straightforwardly.

Sasuke smiled, "Of course."

_**Awesome we're part of his 'all'.**_

_I'm not even sure what that means?_

_**We're important to him.**_

_Hell yeah!_

_**So excited for someone so in denial.**_

"Well that's everybody...c'mon guys let's go. I think we should order pizza!"

"I second that," the brunette said excitedly.

"Let's just get there first," Gaara butted in.

"Ok, but Gaara, since you haven't been to my apartment before you have to follow either me and Kiba, Sasuke, or Shikamaru. Got it?"

"Yeah."

With that the teens all walked together to the student parking lot; dispersing once they got there to find their respective cars. Well Kiba and Naruto carpooled so they walked together, but all of them were so ready to get off school grounds already.

This is the moment they wait for ever single week. That feeling of knowing that the weekend is here is liberating.

Liberating indeed.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!** Ok so yeah...just a semi-filler...explaining stuff to everyone chapter. Not even close to being my favorite chapter...but close to being my least favorite chapter...BUT the next chapter is going to be fun...though it'll be a completely pointless filler chapter, but extremely fun chapter none the less! I mean come on six boys getting together on Friday...that just spells fun (but in a completely non-dirty way, sheesh guys...fangirls...)

Review?


	15. Daytime Havoc

**Disclaimer: Yeah, can't make any money off of him still...Damn copyright laws...and their lawliness...  
**

**A/N: **Guys! I'm now on chapter 15 that is so crazy...I can't believe I have written so much ^_^ I have a lot of time to write too cause it's now officially Winter Break...and I have two weeks off to do nothing! (That is very true cause I don't celebrate Christmas, so a whole week of rest, relaxation...and writing :P) But I guess it isn't completely true because my damn history teacher assigned so much homework you would think that it's a summer assignment...does he think that people don't have things to do on break? Sure, I don't but imagine the people who do. Cruel and unusual punishment, I say! Off topic, ok back to topic, hope you like the chapter even though it is split into two parts: day and night ;)

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**Chapter 15:** Daytime Havoc

* * *

Naruto pulled up into a his parking spot directly in front of his apartment building. Kiba and Naruto got out of his car in time with each other, making sure not their doors wouldn't hit the car next to them, the narrow spots didn't help. They watched as Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Gaara's cars came around the bend, one by one, stopping in random open spots close to where Naruto was standing.

They couldn't get out of their cars fast enough for Naruto, he had already started moving up the tiered staircase that wound up the side of the complex, Kiba quickly trotted after him, followed closely by Gaara while Sasuke and Shikamaru brought up the rear. They all held onto the slick, metal rails for dear life, while Naruto and Kiba raced the length of the stairs, pounding up the flights and sprinting for the door of Naruto's apartment.

The blonde fumbled slightly while getting his keys out of the front pocket of his backpack. He shakily stuffed the key into the lock, cursing under his breath when the door refused to give.

"Have you done this before, Dobe? Or do we have to teach you how to open a lock?" Sasuke mocked, walking up behind to stand shoulder to shoulder.

"Shut up, Teme. This lock's retarded, it does this all the time," Naruto growled, more at the lock than Sasuke. He shoved the key in and out of the lock multiple times, praying that it would work this time around. No luck. Each time the key would jam right as he would turn it to the side.

The gang just stood talking to each other, ignoring the blonde's incompetence. It was more Kiba talking to Shikamaru, and Gaara standing silent and broody as always.

Sasuke couldn't take it anymore, he snatched the house key right from the blonde, and opened the door on his first try. Naruto was about to protest that he was going to get it to open that time, but Sasuke opened the door and they were shocked to hear the door slam into a person. The person stumbled back onto the shag carpet. The poor man rubbed his nose, it was sore from impact.

"Iruka!" Naruto shouted, "What're you doing?"

"Well, I was thinking that someone was trying to break in, from the repeated jostling of the lock. And I figured it had to a burglar because if it was you, then you'd ring the doorbell," Iruka grumbled, still trying to sooth his nose.

"You could've just rung the doorbell_?_!" Kiba shouted in disbelief.

"I forgot Iruka was in the house, or well, didn't think he would still be." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "What're you doing in the house, anyway?"

"I was actually just leaving."

"Oh, well, ok. But Iruka look who's here! Gaara!" Naruto waved enthusiastically at the redhead who had yet to enter the living room.

"Gaara, good to see you again. It has been a while," Iruka greeted, "though I saw you two hours back."

Gaara just nodded as a response.

"Mmm yeah, Iruka! This's Sasuke Uchiha, you've got'm in your 2nd period class, right? And you remember Shika and Kiba," Naruto introduced quickly, knowing that Iruka was already running late.

"Mr. Umino," Sasuke said shaking his hand.

"Ah, yes, Sasuke Uchiha, one of my best student. Next to you, Shikamaru," Iruka stated glancing at the lazy brunette. "But Mr. Subaku isn't far behind."

"Um, Mr. Umin—"

"Iruka—when we're out of school," the man interrupted.

"Iruka, where are you going. School's over, right?"

"Yes, well, I've got to get to my second job at the hospital. Someone has got to pay the bills." He smiled goodnaturedly, whereas, Naruto's lips pressed into a fine line at the statement. The man didn't notice, or choose to ignore it, he rushed his goodbyes and ran out the door; after grabbing his wallet and car keys of the side table.

They all watched the man leave, almost tripping on the slight height difference between the door ledge and the hallway floor. He was rather uncoordinated and scatterbrained, it was funny to watch.

"That always screws with me," Kiba said randomly, walking into what they called a kitchen and started pawing through the junk food contents. He couldn't decide between Doritos or Oreos, so he grabbed both and plopped onto the overstuffed sectional.

"What?" Naruto asked, sitting beside him. He found the TV remote hiding under a mountain of cast away pillows. He waited as the TV light up a few second after pressing the on button, and proceeded to flip through channels, hoping to see if anything worth watching was coming on. He was glad the rain had stopped yesterday, or then they wouldn't be getting any signal.

"That your dad, or guardian, or whatever, is our teacher," Kiba explained. "Man, you'd think we'd get some special treatment, but I get detention, like, everyday from him."

Shikamaru snorted, "That's 'cause you never pay attention in class, worse still: you're disruptive."

Kiba's brilliant comeback was to humph angrily, pout, and cross his arms. The lazy teen sat beside Kiba, making sure to pull in a throw pillow to lay his head against.

"Well...?" Naruto said expectantly to Gaara and Sasuke.

"Hn?" They grunted together.

"Are ya gonna sit, or not?"

They both glanced around before complying. Sasuke sat beside Naruto on the sofa while Gaara opted to getting comfortable in the lone recliner.

Kiba ripped open the bags of snacks he had forged from the cabinet, sharing with Naruto as they both devoured them, mercilessly.

They chilled like that for a good hour and a half, entertained as they watched Adam and Jamie blow up a water heater. Mythbusters was Naruto's favorite show for that very reason, it was so fun to watch the two guys blow up random junk. The second episode they watched was "Exploding Pants", where Carey, Tori, and Grant proved that New Zealand farmers use of herbicide in the 1930s could have potentially caused their trousers to explode, or light as easily as a cigarette ash falling on the impregnated material.

Watching things spontaneously combust was always amusing.

After a while, the junk snacks wasn't enough for the boys. They were ravenous. So just as Naruto had said before they decided to order a pizza. Kiba and Naruto ate a whole Meat Lover's Delight pizza together. While, Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Gaara split a vegetarian style pizza. Kiba and Naruto called it a sissy's pizza, but the other boys could care less. Shikamaru pointed out that they were probably going to die of a heart attack before they turn thirty if they ate like that.

Once lunch was over, and they had guzzled down two 2-liter sodas and three tubs of ice cream, they were immobile. They laid on the floor for a good twenty minute, claiming how much more stuffed they were compared to each other. But nothing could keep Naruto down once he had an idea.

"Hey, guys this is boring let's do something!" Naruto shouted at the stationary boys.

"Do you have something in mind?" Shikamaru questioned not even looking up, Naruto was known to suggest something, but never have any real idea of what they were supposed to do.

"Yeah," Naruto laughed devilishly. All the boys propped themselves up to look at the blonde. He looked like the cat who swallowed the canary. That was not a good sign, but Naruto had managed to piqued their interest. They asked him to continue. "Ever heard of _the _list?"

"What list?" Sasuke provided.

The blonde smirked mysteriously,"101 Fun Things to Do at WalMart?"

"Hell yeah!" Kiba pumped his fist in the air saying,"I've always wanted to try that out!"

Naruto highfived the brunette knowing that he could always count on Kiba to back him up. He then looked at the rest of the gang to gauge their expressions at the thought. Didn't seem too great.

"You want us to go to WalMart...for fun?" Shikamaru sighed.

"Aw, come on, Shika, it'll be fun! We can mess with random people!" Kiba and Naruto whined in unison.

"I'm with Shika on this one," Sasuke grumbled, "WalMart, really? Come on."

"Gaara?" Naruto begged, hoping to get at least one of them on board, so that they could sway the others. The redhead just shrugged, he could care less, but it wasn't like he was opposed to the idea. Naruto took it as a yes.

"Yay! Gaara's down! Come oooon, Sasuke, Shika_!_?" Naruto cried, he jumped up and sat beside Shikamaru, shaking the boy back and forth. "Shika, you know you wanna! We'll have a blast!"

"...fine...what a drag," Shikamaru consented after a couple hard shakes. Naruto shouted his thanks and turned to face the last person standing between him and going. The glint in Naruto's eyes was close to scary.

Sasuke gulped.

"Sa-suke~?" Naruto crooned.

"...yeah?" He hesitatingly asked even though he knew what Naruto was going to say.

"Are you coming?"

"Naruto, I really don't feel like making a fool out of myself in front of random people at WalMart," the raven reasoned.

"Please," Naruto pleaded,"Everyone else's going."

"Then have fun with everyone else."

"It won't be the same without you, Sasu-chan," the blonde teased.

Sasuke's eye twitched.

**_This is your cue to cave._**

_Sasuke Uchiha doesn't cave to anyone! _

**_It's cute how you refer to yourself in the third person when you're trying to sound tough._**

_Damn you, _I _don't cave for anyone!_

**_Especially not to a adorable blonde that's trying to seduce him._**

_Especially not._

Naruto inched closer to the impassive raven. The others watched happily entertained, Sasuke was going to kill them all when he had the chance. He was still half laying on the ground, propped up on one elbow, he watched Naruto creep closer to him. Sasuke had no idea what the blonde was planning to do, but he didn't think he would enjoy it.

Naruto took advantage of the immobile raven, and quickly crawled up to sit on Sasuke's hips, his legs caging him in on either side. Yeah, Naruto was straddling Sasuke.

The blonde bent over to align his mouth with the frozen raven's ear. Naruto grinned, licked his lips, and murmured, "I want you to come, Sasuke."

"Ok! Ok! I'll go! Just get the hell off me!" Sasuke yelled flustered. Jumping up rapidly causing Naruto to fall and hit the ground hard on his backside. Sasuke was red in the face, Naruto found it highly amusing as he rubbed his sore tail bone. Almost as amusing as watching things spontaneously combust; but it looked like the raven might just spontaneously combust, any second too.

**_Naruto 1 Sasuke 0_**

The others broke out laughing. Sasuke's glare was frightening, but after the previous display none of them could bring themselves to be scared. The raven couldn't get his cheeks to cool as much as he tried.

"Alright! Let's go!" Naruto announced.

With that the boys got up and left the apartment. The agreed on just taking one car because all of them could fit in Naruto's beat up Range Rover easily. It would be pointless to take another car, plus it would be a waste of gas. And just like that Naruto hit the gas and sped off to the nearest WalMart, ready to become a public disturbance.

* * *

WalMart

* * *

Naruto parked with ease in a spot that was one of the closest to the sliding doors. Just in case they needed a quick getaway. They all got out casually, Naruto was practically bouncing standing up with anticipation. Kiba wasn't much better at containing himself. The made their way across the street to the commercial sized blue and white building; it was ridiculous how larger these stores were getting.

The teens approached the automatic doors and strolled in as it opened not a moment later. They walked past the cashiers and moved to the center of the building away from employees watching eyes.

Once they were in a narrow deserted children's toy section aisle did they actually try to figure out what they wanted to do.

"We're here," Shika pointed out, "So now what?"

"Yeah, Dobe, do you have this 'list' memorized?" Sasuke wondered.

"I don't have to," Naruto shot back.

"Because?"

"We live in the 21st century, right guys?" They nodded, still not following where he was going with this. "Our phones can Google it."

The blonde watched realization passed their faces. They all nodded, it was rather straightforward and logical, they felt kind of stupid for not thinking of it themselves right as they asked.

"Ok, Sasuke, your phone," Naruto demanded.

"Why my phone? Use your own."

"I said our phones, in general, can Google; not specifically mine." The blonde rolled his eyes.

The raven handed Naruto his iPhone, but said, "I doubt you'll get a connecti—"

"We're online," Naruto interrupted, "Googling...found a cite! Chainletters_._net...hmm ok, cause you're all wussies, I'll start."

Kiba argued that it wasn't fair that he got to first, but was up to seeing how people would react to whatever Naruto choose. The blonde moved his finger up the phone, scrolling until he saw something he wanted to do. His eyes visibly lit up as his mouth curved into a Grinch-like smile.

"Watch and learn guys," Naruto laughed.

Kiba grinned. "What're you doing?"

"Not telling. Just watch and learn."

Naruto maneuvered out of the aisle, accidentally knocking over a Tickle Me Elmo in the process. He didn't care to pick it up, annoyed as it started wiggling and talking from impact. The others trailed after him, eying him wearily as he walked straight up to a middle aged lady that they have never seen before.

"Hi! I haven't seen you in such a long time!" Naruto exclaimed happily, as he hugged the random woman. It was obvious that she had no idea what was going on. The gang had to stop themselves from breaking out laughing just from her expression; it was priceless.

"I'm sorry, young man, but I don't rememb—"

"It's me! Arashi! From last year's party?" Naruto convinced, putting on the pair of widest innocent eyes he had.

"Umm...no..." She trailed off, her eyes darted around as if she was looking for a way out.

The blonde giggled, "How can you not remember_?_! We had such a great time talking about your kids!"

* * *

Naruto had picked the wrong lady to mess with. She was smart and figured that she was being pranked. Naruto decided to pick his victims carefully as he tenderly touched his bruising check. Damn that purse had a lot of buckles on it. And what did she have in it? Anvils?

Kiba was still laughing at his blunder.

"Oh yeah, I learned," Kiba choked out between laughs, "Learned what _not _to do!"

"_I learned what not to do_," Naruto mimicked, annoyed in a high pitched voice. "Thanks, Kibs. I can sure count on you."

"I'm sorry, but that was brilliant, she _nailed _you with her bag!" Kiba smiled.

Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Gaara couldn't help but smile along with Kiba. Yeah, Gaara smiled. The rest were shocked, not that they would say that. Besides, they had to admit that it did look kind of tempting to prove themselves better than Naruto.

Naruto was offended."Fine, Kiba, then how 'bout we do dares_!_?"

"Your on!"

Naruto snatched Sasuke's phone out of the raven's hand and furiously went through the list, looking for a fitting punishment.

"Do number thirty five!" Naruto said triumphant. Kiba grabbed the phone out of Naruto palm, to read the dare. Shikamaru smirked alongside Naruto at the the brunette's deep blush. Sasuke was contemplating whether, or not Naruto would notice if he sneaked out.

"But Naru—"

"No, buts, this is a dare. Be a man."

"Hardly..." Kiba breathed. They all moved to a new section of the place so no one who saw Naruto's act would be there to watch Kiba too. The brunette searched the crowd for a fitting employee. He did not want to make the same mistake as Naruto.

Kiba braced himself for the embarrassment as he found a perfect person. This vest wearing employee looked brand new. Straight out of high school by the way he looked lost. The poor guy kept glancing around, and asking other employees questions, or redirecting a customer to another worker.

He watched like a hunter, waiting for his pray to stray far away from the pack. Once the man was far enough away from the rest of the guys in the electronics department. Kiba went running frantically to the worker.

"Can I help you?"

Kiba put on his best in pain face and made a show of squeezing his legs together yelling, "I need tampons!"

The young man panicked. "Right away!"

Kiba howled in laughter as the man ran away to the hygiene aisle. He fell to the floor clutching his stomach.

"Doesn't the dude know I'm a dude_!_?" Kiba chuckled. "I thought this was gonna be embarrassing for me, but man, I can't imagine what the guy'll feel like when he figures out I'm a guy!"

"Maybe your just so damn girly he rightly mistook you for a girl?" Shikamaru teased.

The smile dropped from his face. He whined about how he was the manliest man on this planet in attempt to save face. Everyone was laughing now. It looked to Naruto that both Gaara and Sasuke's icy demeanors were finally thawing out. They finally felt comfortable with is other friends. Naruto smiled at the thought. He hoped that meant that Gaara was going to finally act like he usually did in front of him rather than the ice cube he has been for the past couple of days. Naruto wanted the redhead to act like he usually did.

"Ok, now I get to dare," Kiba said already scrolling through his options, "Kit, you gotta do number sixty eight!"

"But I just did one!"

"No buts, you have the honor to go again," the brunette threw back.

"Fine, but next up's Gaara!" Naruto shouted as he stole the phone from Kiba's grasp to see exactly what number sixty eight said. "Wow, Kibs, really? I'm tweaking it a bit."

Sasuke and Gaara watched, amused Naruto squared his shoulders and stalked off in the opposite direction. They all followed him into the makeup department, thinking about what possibly could be the dare. Kiba wouldn't let them see what he was making Naruto do.

The blonde confronted what looked like to be a high school couple. They didn't recognize the two, but hopefully meant that they didn't recognize them back. The group decided to stay a couple of feet away, not wanting to make it blatantly obvious that they were a part what Naruto was going to do.

The blonde started flirting with black haired girl, "Hey baby, what's your name? I'm Kiba."

The real Kiba facepalmed. He should have seen that one coming. As long as Naruto didn't give his last name too, he would be safe. The last thing he wanted was a vengeful boyfriend on his tail. He wouldn't put anything past Naruto at this point, after all it was his fault that Naruto was doing another dare which included a female and a purse.

The girl fidgeted in her boyfriends arms. "Umm...Miki..."

Naruto kept his cheesy come ons going, ignoring the obvious discomfort of the girl; or the obvious hatred from the guy. After a couple of bad pick up lines, the girl finally spoke up to tell Naruto off.

"I already have a boyfriend..." She said glancing up at the guy who was holding her possessively like it should be pretty clear. Which it was to Naruto, but that wasn't the point.

Naruto visibly shrugged as if that meant nothing. It was clear that he was done with the girl. He turned meet eyes with the guy who was still glaring at him as if to say sorry, but Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Gaara were floored to listen as Naruto said:

"Hey baby, what's your name?"

* * *

The blonde's other cheek still smarted from the girl's bitch slap. Sasuke found this particularly amusing, it was payback for what Naruto did to him at the apartment. It looked like karma was finally on his side for once, but he knew that it wouldn't be for long.

"That's what you get for being a shameless flirt, Dobe," Sasuke mocked. he would never admit that he was slightly jealous when the blonde did that all, though.

Kiba was beyond words, first the women and the purse and now this other girl. He was close to crying from laughing too hard; he knew that a slap was going to be the outcome but seeing it happen first hand was satisfying. The brunette was so glad that Naruto had already promised the next dare to Gaara, or he would be toast.

"You're so destined to be gay, man. You've got _no _luck with women," Kiba hollered.

Naruto had enough self restraint to not hit Kiba, but the effort it took hurt.

"You're stupid," Gaara said as if that explained everything.

"Whatever, I've done two dares now. It's your guys' turn. Gaara, I've already picked one out especially for you." Naruto passed the sacred phone to the emotionless redhead. "Number fifty eight."

They all marveled at the smallest smile that graced the redhead's face, it was gone just as quickly.

"To the hunting department," Gaara said, no anxiety weighing in his voice.

The boys followed the confident redhead, wondering what it would be this time. They really could picture Gaara acting like he knew a random person, asking for a tampon, or flirting with a girl. But Naruto wouldn't budge, he kept the phone hostage. He just grinned and said that it was going to be amazing realistic.

Once they were all in the department, they split up; Gaara was alone, and the rest of them were in a group 'talking' to each other within an earshot. They watched from the corner of their eyes as Gaara picked up a gun with expert like ease. That was scary.

They couldn't believe that WalMart would have a gun display. Was that legal? They didn't know. But WalMart really didn't lie when they said they have everything here cause on their way to hunting department they passed the grocery aisles.

In their peripheral view, the guys watched as the redhead beckoned another employee. Gaara put out all the stops, he made sure that he gazed at the gun longingly before the worker arrived at his side. Damn, Gaara was a good actor...if he was acting.

"How may I help you?"

He looked the man straight in the eye, gun in hand, and emotionlessly asked, "Where are the anti-depressants?"

The group chortled loudly, delighted to watch as the man tried to piece together a response. Gaara passed so well as suicidal that the man was reduced to short, spastic sentences. While he tried to figure out what to do, they figured that how to handle depressed/suicidal teen probably wasn't in their training manual.

"Yes...well...uh, I know...wait right here, sir," the employee freaked.

"Don't take too long. I don't know how much longer I can wait," Gaara said monotonously.

"Yes! Of course, sir!" The man shouted as he ran off to get what they assumed would be police.

Naruto came up with the rest of them to slap Gaara on the back for a job well done. They discussed how amusing the man's reaction was on a scale of one to ten. It ranked high for all of them mostly because they could see the man sweating from the ulcer he was soon to get.

"That was brilliant, Gaara!" Naruto shouted still high from the joy of screwing with people.

"Yeah, man. Major props for that one," Kiba congratulated.

Shikamaru added, "Very believable."

"Kudos," Sasuke said, truly surprised that the redhead took it all in good nature.

"The man's reaction was more than I thought it'd be, fucking moron," Gaara laughed.

Everyone, but Naruto, was gawking like a deer-in-the-headlights. Those were the largest amount of words Gaara had ever spoken to them. Not even that, there was emotion in his voice; granted it was sarcasm, but that was more than before. Naruto had a smug smile pasted on his face at watching other guys' shock.

"You talk!" Kiba shouted stupidly.

"Of course I talk you retard," Gaara scoffed.

"But I mean, like, _talk _talk," the brunette tried to reason.

"Guys, this is the Gaara I know and love," Naruto announced throwing his arm around Gaara,"It just took him awhile to wanna show it to you losers."

Gaara just rolled his eyes at the theatrics, and shrugged out of Naruto's grip. "Yes, I didn't know whether you people were worth talking to, but you guys got guts...or I'll see it soon when it is time for your dare."

The redhead talking properly, like a normal person put Sasuke and Shikamaru's brains in overdrive. They were trying to see if anything in the past would have hinted to this. But they couldn't come up with anything. They couldn't believe that they didn't figure it out.

Nothing ever was supposed to surprise them. They always saw the hints, Gaara hadn't slipped up at all during the time that they had known him. This guy was such a mystery. Gaara could see the strain of them trying to find a tiny detail that they overlooked to prove that they were just lazy, anything to prove that they weren't duped. He wasn't the robot they thought he was; can't say much on that though, since they were surprised that the Uchiha was a regular human being too.

"Don't hurt yourselves," Gaara grinned at the two boys.

Sasuke frowned, not liking that he had been totally fooled, same went for the reigning genius Shikamaru. Gaara has apparently easily pulled one over them. That went against the laws of life, or something.

"Hey, Naruto, I gotta dare for you," Gaara said. Sasuke was shocked to see that his phone was in Gaara's hands. When did the guy take it from him? It seemed that the others were puzzled as to how the redhead had obtained the raven's cell...which had been in his pocket.

"Man, you're so ninja!" Kiba laughed at Sasuke patting down his pockets as if to make sure that it was actually his phone that was taken, and not another iPhone that had the exact same black gel cover as his.

"Ninja, yeah right," Gaara chuckled at the thought.

Naruto had other things on his mind than to laugh at Sasuke's confusion. "Wait, why do I have to do another dare_?_! I have done _two _already. That's not fair!"

"Are you chicken?"

"Naruto Uzumaki is any thing but a chicken!"

"How 'bout a rooster then?" Kiba joked. It earned him a bone crunching punch from Naruto. "Ow! Violent much?"

"So what number?" Naruto asked as he took the cell out of Gaara's hands, looking at the screen like he would psychically know what number the redhead wanted him to do.

"Eighty two."

"Which one?"

"Eighty two," Gaara repeated, "I just said that."

"No, I really mean which one? There are two number eighty twos."

Gaara examined the screen again, noticing that Naruto was right. There were two on the list labeled eighty two.

"That's lame. So doesn't that mean the title should be '102 Fun Things to do at WalMart'?" Kiba thought out loud, confused.

"It doesn't matter Kiba, so shut it." Naruto looked back at Gaara waiting for a response to his question.

Gaara consulted the list another time before saying, "The second one."

Naruto read the entry and started laughing right there, he almost dropped the phone because he was shaking so hard. Gaara had a knowing smirk on his face, while the others' faces looked like they wanted to beg to be told what exactly Naruto was going to do.

"Follow me!" Naruto ordered after calming down.

He lead them to the customer service table. There was a balding man stationed at the front looking bored. He was frowning at the paper in the desk, tapping away at the counter with his ball point pen. The blonde strode up to the front desk with a sense of purpose. The man took a second to look up and another to realize that Naruto wanted to talk to him.

"Hello, how can I help you?" The man repeated the mandatory phrase, in such a way that it really meant "leave me alone".

"Yes, I'll have a Quarter Pounder with cheese, one strawberry shake, a large order of french fries and a diet coke." Naruto said in his best ditsy blonde voice; it bordered on valley girl.

_Wow, he sounds gay. _Was all Sasuke could think.

**_Don't act like it isn't a turn on._**

_I was wondering when you would show up._

**_You secretly love Naruto's gay act._**

_It's an act. Why would I love it?_

**_But how you wish it wasn't an act..._**

_..._

Naruto gazed at the worker expectantly, twirling one of the longer strands of his hair around his finger, while rocking back and forth on his heels. The man was at a loss for word, but he came back to his senses and decided to just politely tell the blonde that he was at the wrong place.

"I'm sor—"

"Oh, to go," Naruto interjected.

"I can't give a McDonalds' meal to you he—" The man started.

"Oh, This is because I'm gay isn't it? I'd expect this from, like, Caldors, but not, like, WalMart. People who are gay are just like everyone else your know! You, like, disgust me!" Naruto yelled offended, still in his airhead blonde character. He stalked off, with an evident swing to hips, like a model.

Kiba was on the floor, hitting his fist on the ground. His stomach hurt from laughing too hard; this applied to everyone though. As soon as Naruto was in the safety of a small aisles, he broke down with the rest of the guys. The man was dumbstruck with Naruto's acting, it was to much to bear. He couldn't believe that he had kept his act together long enough to escape. The boys then teased Naruto for finally coming out of the closet. He just chuckled along with them.

He wrestled the phone away from Kiba and proclaimed that it was Sasuke's turn to suffer for the entertainment of the group.

"Ok, Sasuke, number ninety four is yours," Naruto smiled evilly, he knew how much the raven avoided embarrassment. The blonde handed Sasuke his cell back to scan his task. It was obvious by the look on his face that he didn't want to do what he had read. But he would disgrace his sense of pride if he backed out now.

"Fine, Dobe," Sasuke sighed, "Come on."

Sasuke quickly chose the an older lady in the middle of the clothing section to be his prey. He already felt bad. He walked up to her easily, Sasuke then put his hand on her shoulder to successfully gain her attention.

"Help me. The voices in my head are telling me to do naughty things, again," Sasuke said calmly.

**_No, I'm not._**

_It's an act, I have to look like a crazy person._

**_Then again I have been telling you to molest Naruto...that's naughty._**

_...well at least I'm not lying to the lady..._

The lady just looked shocked, not knowing how to respond to something like that. She resorted to just gaping.

Before she could say say anything, Sasuke then tightly clapped his hands over his ears, screwing his face up like he was in pain. He yelled, "No! I don't want to hurt the nice lady! No! No! No! No!_!_!_!_"

The raven then calmly looked her straight in the eyes and said, "I...will start...a fire..."

If the lady was shocked before now she was scared. It was obvious that she thought she was talking to a psychopath, a dangerous psychopath that is. The lady was contemplating whether to run or call the police. She looked plain terrified; the lady screamed shrilly and ran away.

Sasuke walked back to everybody, trying to keep himself from doubling over. The gang in the background had to hold onto each other for support. Sure, they felt horrible for doing this, but it was fucking hilarious.

"Ok, guys very funny," Sasuke grumbled after a bit, not liking having to do that.

"Aw, come on, Teme," Naruto giggled while wiping a tear, "That was great! She actually screamed and ran away! I thought that she might just pull out the pepper spray on you!"

"Yeah, no kidding it was like she was going to wet herself," Kiba snickered.

Sasuke smirked, "Whatever. If I remember correctly, though, Shika you've yet to go?"

"Cockatoo's right. You have to have you're turn, too," Gaara agreed.

"Yeah!" Kiba and Naruto shouted together.

Shika smiled lazily, "Aw, damn, here I thought you guys forgot."

Sasuke handed Shikamaru the phone. "Number forty eight."

"What a drag," the teen grunted.

"Off you go, Shika!" Naruto egged on by pushing the boy out into the open.

Shikamaru apathetically stood dead center of front of the store, right where the majority of the shoppers and all the employees where and waited. What he was waiting for only Sasuke knew. But the rest were dying to see exactly what Shikamaru was planning to do right there. It didn't look like he was going to move or confront someone.

Sasuke hushed them and told them to wait, something was going to happen. Right as he said that a voice came on the loudspeaker saying that they needed a price check in children's clothing.

As the announcement finished they were awed to see the lazy teen scream, "No, no! It's those voices again!" While falling on the floor and curling into himself, assuming fetal position.

A sizable crowd gathered around the shaking boy, completely oblivious to the group of guys his age all killing themselves with laughter. He would yell again every time an announcement came on, which was too often in his opinion. Soon enough the manager came and helped Shikamaru claiming that everything was going to be fine. He asked Shikamaru where his parents were or if he was alone. After a while the man left when he felt secure that Sasuke was Shikamaru's real brother. The raven then apologized for his brother's behavior and said that he was born with a severe mental disorder, much to Shikamaru's chagrin.

The spent the rest of the day going through the list together. They were surprised that they weren't kicked out at any point in time. They had fun playing Marco Polo and Hide and Seek in the giant store. Giving each other hints with texts, like telling who was it that they passed them. It really was great when Sasuke got all worked up and frustrated over finding no one but Shikamaru; but he had been sleeping on a couch in the furniture display that was hardly a feat.

They hid boxes of condoms in random people's carts that were in the check out line and watched their face as they tried to explain that it wasn't theirs and they didn't know how it got in there. Naruto and Kiba had a blast making a trail of orange juice that lead to the bathroom, best part was watching the reactions of people who found it. They even "re-alphabetize" the CD's in Electronics, had a nerf gun war, swimming noodles jousting match, and darted around suspiciously while humming the Mission: Impossible theme. The list went on forever.

In the end they were sweaty faced and out of breath when they decided to call it quits. Stumbling back out the sliding door, and falling into Naruto's Rover ready to rest.

"Sleepover at my house!" Naruto suggested loudly.

"I'm down," Kiba agreed right away.

"Me too," Gaara consented.

Sasuke just rolled his eyes,"Dobe, we didn't bring any clothes or other stuff."

"Don't be a girl, Teme. You can borrow my stuff."

"I don't think me or Shikamaru can fit in your stuff."

"Whatever, you pansy, acting like you don't sleep in your boxers anyway," Naruto joked.

**_Sasuke in his boxers...hot._**

_Go away you freak._

**_Hey, you came out of the closet today._**

_No, I acted like I came out of closet._

**_Good point...you're so far back in the closet that you're in Narnia._**

Naruto just exited the parking lot and couldn't wait to get back to the apartment, that's when the real fun would start.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!** Seriously that was super crazy long. I must have been in a writing mood today, guess that's what happens when it rains. I feel really bad for you guys! Haha I did enjoy that but it could have been better written, in my opinion...Oh well, thoughts? Next chapter will be fun, but doesn't include a lot of sleeping (Mind. Out. Of. Gutter. Please and thank you XD)


	16. Night Games

**Disclaimer: ****私はナルトを所有していない  
(P.S. I don't really know if that says "I don't own Naruto" cause I kinda just stuck it into Google Translate crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. So my apologies to anyone who can really read Japanese and is offended because it actually says "You're a douchebag", or something XP It's just there to look cool...)  
**

**A/N: **Woohoo! Chapter 16 is up...finally! I totally feel bad that I didn't update more during the break but blame my psychotic teachers...and my laziness ^_^; But today's Saturday so seeing that I wasn't about to do homework yet...I could either read, watch TV, or write this...I think you know what I picked XD

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**Chapter 16:** Night Games

* * *

"We're home!" Naruto yelled into the apartment. He scanned the room to see if Iruka was back since it was nearing eight o' clock. But the place was deserted much to Naruto's annoyance. He threw his set of keys easily into the decorative bowl of the living room table with a sharp ping. It was a habit to make sure he would never misplace them; he had in the beginning...a lot. He even took to wearing them clipped to a charm bracelet when out of the house.

_Iruka must be working over time...again._

**_Give it a break, he has to._**

_No, he doesn't and I've told him that._

**_Well just saying he doesn't have to...doesn't mean_ he doesn't have to_._**

Naruto glanced back to see all the guys stumble in, apparently they were tired. He thought that odd, they haven't really even done anything yet and they were tired. He shook his head as he watched them one by one collapse onto the sectional.

"I'm surprised that you managed to open the door only on your fifth try," Sasuke teased while propping his legs onto the glass surface of the coffee table.

"Shut it, my lock's bipolar. I doubt you'd even be able to open it on your first try." Naruto glared back.

"Man, I'm with ya. Your door's gay. I'm never able to open it," Kiba nodded.

"I'm not really surprised the two resident idiots can't open it." Gaara smirked. He got up suddenly grabbed Naruto's keys out of the bowl and marched out the door. He closed it with a thud, efficiently locking it behind himself. The others just looked at each other, exchanging various expressions of confusion. Only to hear the lock jangle and swing open to reveal Gaara once more. They just stared, not getting what happened.

"What was the point of that?" Kiba asked as the redhead sat back down.

Gaara facepalmed saying, "I just showed you that I could open that door on my first try. Proving my point that you two are the stupid ones, not the door."

"The door just likes you." Was Naruto's witty response. Sasuke and Shikamaru just laughed at Naruto's and Kiba's disgruntled looks. The blonde's frown was still in place when he felt his phone buzz. It was a text. Iruka was telling he would be back late and to have fun as a response to Naruto's text that the guys sleeping over.

"Ugh, whatever guys. What do ya wanna do now?" Kiba wondered out loud.

"I dunno," Naruto said stroking his imaginary goatee.

"Haven't we done enough?" Shikamaru groaned, obviously tired when he stretched his arms above his head only to tuck them right back under the base of his head.

The blonde just rolled his eyes. "We're just getting started. Plus, it'll be boring if we just do nothing."

Naruto paced around the room thinking about what they could do at this time of day in a small town like this. They had already terrorized all the people in the local WalMart, there really wasn't all that much left in Konoha. He thought about going cosmic bowling since that was always fun at night. But lately the place had been going through renovations and hadn't been open. So that was out.

"We could sleep?" Shikamaru suggested hopefully.

"That's boring!" Kiba and Naruto yelled back. The brunette even going to the length of chucking a throw pillow at the lazy teen's face. They knew it was called a throw pillow but they doubted it was for that reason.

"We can sleep when we are done having fun." The blonde grinned.

"I think I have had enough 'fun' for one day," Sasuke countered.

"I don't think so..." Naruto trailed off his eyes lighting up as a thought popped into his head. That familiar devil-like grin curled his lips to make him look like the Grinch. Kiba clapped his hands in excitement, he knew Naruto had thought of something. The others all gulped. They just prayed it wasn't as crazy as the last thing he had thought of...they didn't think they could handle something like that twice in one day.

"What do you think then?" Shikamaru dared to ask.

"This isn't bad I swear," Naruto defended to disbelieving eyes. "It's a fun game."

"Cosmic bowling?" Kiba tried.

"Nope. I thought of that but the place is closed for renovations...but this is better!" He exclaimed obviously pleased with himself for thinking of whatever he had planned.

"Well, I don't like cosmic golfing just in case your wondering." The brunette followed up.

"No, nothing cosmic, gosh. You guys have no imagination."

"So are you going to tell us or not?" Sasuke sighed.

"No, you guys have to guess. This is just sad."

They stared back blankly. All of them knew that anything Naruto would come up with would be something that would never cross their mind in a million years. They fidgeted, Kiba even got up to get something to snack on before falling back onto the couch.

"Umm, TP-ing?"

"No, that's old school."

"Uh, egging?"

"No."

"Then ding dong ditching?"

"Where are you getting these!_?_ Old time sitcoms? No one does these anymore. They're lame. C'mon, you guys, be creative." Naruto exploded. He gazed at them wondering why they were guessing such odd things. Sure he didn't think they would guess his idea on the first time, but hell, doesn't mean they should be this off base on it.

"I am getting these from old shows, actually." Sasuke mumbled.

"Why?"

"'Cause I've never done this before. I don't know what people do..."

"You haven't done what?" Kiba asked stupidly.

"I don't know. Everything I guess. I haven't stayed over at a friends house and I haven't pranked people. And I'm betting I have never done what you are trying to get us to guess," Sasuke said, he looked downright uncomfortable by the end of the speech. But he was telling the truth he never had any real friends to do this before with.

"What kind of sad and tragic life have you been living?_!_" The blonde shrieked. "Ok, it's official we're going to do everything we can before tonight is over!"

"Hell yeah!" Kiba agreed with a high five.

"So what're we doing, dammit?_!_" Gaara said getting impatient. He was one of those people who didn't like surprises because he usually knew everything before it happened.

"Ugh, I really shouldn't tell you guys and just make you guess, but it'd be morning before you figure it out," Naruto grumbled.

"Tell!" Kiba begged.

The blonde contemplated briefly and decided to end the punishment. "Fine, fine, we're gonna go broom-ball...ing? Yeah, I don't know how that becomes a verb, but we are gonna go play some broom-ball!"

A smile crossed Kiba's face as he pumped his fist in the air. "Fuck yeah!"

"We're going to do what?" Sasuke said confused. This was definitely not in any old show. Last time he checked there was no Even Stevens episode where they go "broom-balling", whatever the hell that meant. But Kiba looked crazy excited. Shikamaru's bored expression remained fixed on his face. Gaara just stared in shock.

"Naruto, it's raining," the redhead pointed out.

"So it's not like it's played outside," Naruto said in a "that's obvious" tone.

Sasuke didn't like that his question was being ignored so he repeated, "We're doing what?"

"Broom-ball."

"Which is?" Sasuke said, aggravated. Why would he be asking again if he knew what that meant.

"It's like hockey, but played with brooms. And instead of ice skates we have our regular shoes. And instead of a puck we use a ball. Which ever one we want it doesn't matter," Naruto filled in.

"Won't we fall?"

"That's the point," Naruto laughed.

Sasuke could only think about what kind of idiot invents a game where getting hurt is inevitable. And then what kind of idiot actually plays the game. But he really shouldn't be surprised that Naruto would want to play something as idiotic as that.

"You want us to go to an ice rink? It's pouring for God's sake," Shikamaru complained. That was to be expected.

"This is Konoha. It's always raining. That isn't gonna stop me from going to the ice rink!" Naruto responded. He and Kiba obviously thought that the decision had been made and that everyone was going to go. They were discussing the teams and other technicalities. Sasuke on the other hand was still trying to figure out the appeal of the game.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold it. I don't think I want to die from hypothermia just yet," Sasuke said bluntly.

"Sasuke, do you wanna start this again?" Naruto laughed.

"Start what?"

"Remember the last time you didn't want to do what I wanted to do. Which happened just today I might add."

The raven's cheeks flushed at the memory. Stupid Naruto, trying to seduce him...and succeeding. Not that he was going to tell him that.

_That was so embarrassing._

**_You loved it._**

_I deny that and either way he did it to manipulate me. In front of everyone too!  
_

**_...and it worked._**

_..._

**_I suggest you just agree to go before the humiliation._**

"Fine," Sasuke said grudgingly, " I'll go."

"Perfect!" Naruto exclaimed happily, easily hugging the raven.

Sasuke just froze. The hug itself lasted about two seconds, but Sasuke felt like it was forever. He was surprised that Naruto could so naturally hug people like that. He was sure it didn't really have any other implied meaning. But there was still a small evident smile on his face. His agreeing had made the blonde happy.

"Yay!" Is what the raven heard when he came back to the present. He looked around to see Naruto hugging both Gaara and Shikamaru in a bear hug. Yup, no special meaning in his hugs. Apparently they had also agreed to go with him to the rink to play this broom-ball. "Let's go!"

Shikamaru hesitated, "Don't we need anything?"

"Nope, they got all the supplies there cause a lot of kids do it here."

"How do you know that? You've only been living here for a couple months. Way less compared to us."

"What can I say," Naruto shrugged. "I know how to get around. And I'm friends with the owner."

"Of course you are..."

With that Naruto pushed all of them out the door directly into the downpour. They ran for the car like little girls to get the least amount of rain on themselves, well Naruto strolled leisurely across the road like it was any other weather. Completely enjoying the fresh rain.

Though he would probably regret it when they got to the air conditioned ice rink. He hopped into the car behind the others shaking his head like a dog to get the water out, revved up the frozen engine, and left in the general direction of the Konoha Arena which contained the ice rink along with other random activities centers/facilities.

* * *

Naruto grinned while announcing, "Here we are!"

"Next time I'm driving," Sasuke wheezed out. There were multiple times he could've sworn that he saw his life flash before his eyes...like whenever Naruto took a sharp turn. Or did anything for that matter. The others felt the same sense of relief as the set foot back on solid ground.

"Eh, whatever, you wussy." They all skittered to get protection from the rain. It had lessened to a light drizzle but the walk from their parking spot to the building was so far that they were thoroughly soaked to the bone when they made it under the overhanging, despite their jackets.

"Dude, Naruto it's nearing ten thirty. Are they gonna be open?" Shikamaru said, ever the skeptic.

"Wow, we spent a lot more time doing nothing then I thought we did. Well the drive was twenty minutes..."

"Not the point is the place even open?" Sasuke bringing Naruto back to the main point.

"Yeah, it's open past midnight."

"How do you know?"

"'Cause I texted the owner to make sure they didn't close up. We can stay past midnight cause it's a weekend, too."

"What a drag," Shikamaru grumbled, not pleased at the idea of staying here longer than midnight. He would miss his precious hours of sleep...bruising himself.

Naruto ignored him, he proceeded to push open the set of heavy doors, shivering thanks to the onrush of cold air that greeted them. They walked past the entryway, no one was at the front desk anyway, most of the employees had long since gone home. There was only a few other teenagers they could see in the arena through the red colored plexi-glass of the walls.

The gang followed Naruto obediently since it seemed that he was the only one that actually that knew he was going. They admired the modern style decor of the building with the larger-than-life abstract, paint splatter artwork; it was rather high style for a community center like place. But they were explained by the blonde that even then this was usually was a teen scene, sort of hot spot area, hence the modern look.

They had all heard of the Arena prior to this, but none of them, except Kiba, had actually come before. So they were amazed at how different then how they picture this to be. They expected the regular public center with peeling paint and hazardous equipment and bathrooms that had never been updated or renovated. It was the exact opposite. Seemed high end.

Naruto guided them into a room that was where people changed their shoes to ice skates, but this game included lack of safety so they just walked in their to enter the main rink. But a figure appeared in the doorway blocking their view of the inside. It was a pretty brunette women dressed in professional clothing, a masculine style; they supposed it was to show authority since it would seem this would be the owner that Naruto knew. Or so they assumed when he said "what's up" and high fived her.

"Nice to meet you, Ms..." Sasuke trailed off realizing that Naruto had never told them the name of the owner. "I'm sorry, what's your name?"

The women smiled coyly, "Haku Yukimaru."

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Yukimaru," the raven finished, but he scrunched his brows when Naruto and Ms. Yukimaru started laughing together...and holding each other for support.

"You got another one," Naruto gasped, wiping away a non-existent tear.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Well for one I am too young to be called Miss. Call me Haku, I'm only 21; but on that note if you are to use respect...call me, _Mr_. Yukimaru."

Sasuke's eyes widened along with Kiba's, this beautiful, _feminine _person could not be male. Shikamaru and Gaara weren't phased by the news, they claimed the deep voice gave it away, after the fact. Sasuke could only reason that even girls can have deep voices, but now that he had been told that Haku was a boy...nope, he still couldn't see it. He felt embarrassed and apologized multiple times.

Haku just laughed it off.

"It happens all the time. Believe me," Haku said smiling.

"Oh, I do," Sasuke grumbled.

"Well I'm glad you guys could come. I haven't seen you in a while Naruto. It was about time you called and said you wanted to play some broom-ball." Suddenly, Haku left the around the corner he was leaning against, just to return a few seconds later with six traditional brooms from the maintenance closet. Kicking a soccer ball in time with his steps. "I got everything."

Naruto nodded. "Ok, we have to split into even teams."

Kiba frowned. "But we have only five people. Hardly an even number."

"No, we got six."

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke said tilting his head.

"Haku's playing obviously." Naruto grinned. "I wouldn't want to mess with him if I were you...he's so pro, it's not even funny."

"Fine, so what're the teams?"

"Me, Gaara and Kiba...against you, Shikamaru, and Haku. I figured if I give you Shika and Haku then it would balance out."'

Shikamaru shrugged, not thinking to take it as offensive.

"You're so on, Dobe." Sasuke took it as a challenge. He couldn't wait to beat Naruto. He had always been competitive but this time was different. He wanted to win. Other times he just knew he would, but this time he wanted to prove himself. The anticipation tingled in his veins.

"I would expect no less, Teme," Naruto said with his usual comeback.

They moved in accordance to their teams. The gang hesitantly walked out onto the ice, noticing the lack of tread on their shoes wasn't being all that helpful, skidding dangerously multiple times before they made it to the center. The hockey arena was huge with two huge netted goals on either side, like a legitimate stadium. Except there were surrounding rinks, smaller of course, next to theirs.

There were a couple of teens spread out in the area as the others say through the multicolored plexi-glass dividers. Most appeared to be dedicated figure skaters still practicing in the late Friday night. Watching them gracefully twist and turn in the air was almost surreal.

Naruto called everyone's attention as he shouted, "There is only one rule: there are no rules."

"That isn't contradictory at all," Gaara said sarcastically.

The blonde just rolled his eyes. "Do whatever you can to get the ball in to the goal. Oh, and there are no real goalies. Capisce?"

"Yeah. Get on with it," Sasuke ordered. He was ready. Though he felt extremely unsteady on the ice because of his less than sturdy Vans, he knew that he could dominate. Or at least, he thought he knew. Broom in one hand, he crouched into a ready position directly across from Naruto for the face off. The blonde being in a similar stance as him. Haku stood in the middle as a referee stand in for the drop in.

"Game start!" Haku yelled dropping the ball in the middle of both of them to fight over.

It was no competition, Naruto capture the ball within a matter of seconds much to Sasuke's annoyance. The blonde made off with the soccer ball to the direction of the goal. He ran with an impressive amount of speed on the ice, he had obviously played this many times before.

_Unfair advantage._ Sasuke reassured himself as he chased after Naruto. Just to slip and fall on his back just a few seconds later. All the guys watching him laughed, Naruto turned to see what the outburst was for only to join in when he saw the disgruntled raven on the ground.

While being distracted, Naruto swore when he felt the ball being taken out from under him. Haku had taken full advantage of the laughing blonde by gaining possession of the ball. Slamming his broom onto the ice, he stormed off after Haku. But he was swept of his feet as Sasuke stuck his broom directly in Naruto's path. The blonde careened backwards, hitting the ground hard.

"No fair, Teme!" Naruto yelled at Sasuke's smirking face.

"You said there were no rules. Everything is fair game," Sasuke stated, not looking at Naruto anymore because he was cautiously following Haku to Naruto's team goal.

Haku thought he was in the clear, but stopped abruptly when he noticed the short redhead standing dead center in his route. Haku just smiled. This shorty was no match for him, the guy was only up to his shoulder anyway. Though he would admit the kid's glare was intimidating.

He fainted left, then right, just to make a roundabout turn around the sedentary redhead. As he was analyzing the redhead's reaction, he failed to notice the brunette that was coming from his blindside. All of a sudden he felt a powerful shove, the bristles of a broom sweeping over his feet and stared as the ball was reclaimed by an exuberant Kiba.

"Take that!" The brunette shouted victorious as he ran off to the other side of the arena. Before he made it halfway, Kiba tumbled forward when his shoes skidded over a particularly slick part of the ice. Losing control of the ball as he tried to regain his balance. He ended up slamming the wall when he fell sideways with a grunt.

The ball rolled on the floor aimlessly until Sasuke slipped on the ice smoothly, taking the ball with him as he made a full U-turn back to the other side. It appeared as if he was on ice skates. Well it really looked like someone got a hang of how to use the ice to their full advantage.

"No time to be cocky, Kiba. You aren't that good!" Sasuke yelled behind him.

"Fuck you!"

The raven was making fine pace to the goal, running alongside Haku, but was taken off guard when he was tackled to the floor by a vengeful blonde.

The raven felt his head knock into the ice and yelled, "Hey!"

"How do like a taste of your own medicine_?_!" Naruto grinned, his face a mere four inches away from Sasuke's. The glittering blue eyes smirked at him. Then he was up and gone.

Haku had managed to recover the ball and keep going for the goal. Gaara had other plans, he ran up beside the other brunette. In pace with Haku, Gaara easily pushed him aside to get the ball and then passed it to a hyperactive Kiba. Who had been waving his arms back and forth to signal Gaara's attention.

Haku swore, a tad shocked that the redhead could so effortlessly shove him aside. Not to the point where he falls to the ground, but just the right amount of force to get his to sidestep to avoid losing his balance.

Kiba was met by an angry Sasuke. He wanted that ball, and you could see it in his eyes. Right as he was about to make his move to steal the ball from Kiba, the brunette shot the ball under his legs. It was stopped by the foot of a smirking blonde.

Naruto ran with the soccer ball, speeding up when he noticed both Haku and Sasuke gaining on him. Kiba was trying to stall them, but Naruto still had to get through Shikamaru, the unofficial goalie because he hadn't moved from that spot since the start of the game.

Naruto knew that he was probably calculating all the ways he could block Naruto's shot. Naruto was also sure that Shikamaru had come up with a million different ways that he could shoot and another million ways that he could block it. But Naruto wasn't having any of it.

The blonde knew that Shikamaru wasn't up for physical confrontation so he practically got up in his face before he made his shot. The close distance made it near impossible for Shikamaru to even try and stop his attempt for there was no room to move his broom. It went in.

"Goooooal!" Naruto yelled like a Mexican soccer player; he felt it was fitting because they were using a soccer ball after all. He pumped his broom over his head in both hands. Kiba and Gaara rushed over, making sure not to slip and highfived their teammate.

Shikamaru shrugged, indifferent. But Haku and Sasuke were pissed. That kid got one on them. They were losing. Sure it was by one, but it was one more point than they had...they were still at zero after all.

Naruto's head turned when he heard a couple of giggles. His eyes were met by a couple of girl figure skaters that were stealing glances at him and whispering furtively to each other with distinct smiles on their face. He knew that they were checking him out. He decided to feed his own ego. He made a goofy display of flexing his bicep and shooting a wink at the three girls. They started giggling louder.

High pitched in Sasuke's opinion. Naruto was caught up with showing off to the girls that he fell full force against the ice when Sasuke hit him upside the head with his broom. The girls gasped.

"Ow, what was that for, Teme?" Naruto asked rubbing his head after getting back to his feet.

"Stop goofing off, Dobe," the raven growled, looking away. He walked to the center of the court, obviously getting ready for another face off. It was an issued challenge.

"Someone's eager to lose."

"Say that once you win."

"That won't be long since you'll give up soon enough."

Haku broke up their smack talk when he aligned himself in the middle again with ball. "Start!"

It went on like this for hours. Sasuke and Naruto always were the ones to face off though the others asked to try. Sasuke got a couple, but most went to Naruto. The rest of the night was filled with dirty tactics and Youtube worthy spills. But with lots of laughs.

Each team got arrogant right after they made a goal, with plenty of smack talk. But they soon ate their words when the opposing team scored. Highfives went all around on both teams. Haku and Sasuke started working like a well oiled machine. Shikamaru being the close to perfect goalie.

Naruto and Kiba's energy could not be matched. They were all over the place. Granted most of the falls were their own because of their lack of apprehension for falling. Gaara acted as the play maker of their team coming up with a few good strategies that played off the others weaknesses and emotions.

They got Sasuke riled up to the point he could think straight and stole the ball. They used Shikamaru's laziness for their own strength. Haku was a close to perfect player so thwarting him was a task every time around. But Shikamaru documented their own down comings just as easily. It was an ever exciting game.

In the end they weren't really sure who won. But they were at the point that they really didn't care. It was so much fun to just play that the score didn't even matter. They all got so caught up in the act of making a goal that after they did, they just wanted to tease the other team.

They were the last ones in the Arena, it was fine since Haku was there too. But once they were done, Haku laughed about how it was close to two in the morning and he was surprised on how long the game lasted. He bid them goodnight as he locked up the place, turning off all the lights.

The boys tumbled back into the car in the heavy early morning rain. They were freezing but they didn't mind. Naruto even let Sasuke drive because he was too tired to argue back. All of his muscles were sore, and his back was killing him from all the falls. This went for everyone but Shikamaru, he didn't slip once.

They were just ready to get home.

* * *

"Ugh," Naruto groaned, "I'm so tired..."

He threw open the door as soon as he managed to work the lock. They tried to stay relatively quite for Iruka who was probably sleeping. Not that it was hard since they were too worn to be loud. Naruto stumbled in, took off his shoes and threw off his jacket-shirt combo while kicking off his jeans into a heap in the floor. Clearly not at all subconscious of being practically naked, but why should he: they were all guy here anyway. Not that Sasuke didn't think that way too, but he had a hard time concentrating on that fact at that particular moment.

Naruto jumped onto the recliner, snuggling into a decorative pillow. He curled up and closed his eyes, ready to go to sleep.

"Ditto. I'm beat," Kiba agreed matching Naruto's movements. Except he jumped onto the couch, effectively taking up half of it.

Shikamaru was already on the other half of the sectional, asleep with the first minute he stepped into the apartment, shoes and all.

Gaara squirmed out of his shirt, but kept his jeans on. He told Naruto to move over to which the blonde consented. The redhead climbed in next to the half asleep blonde much to Sasuke's chagrin. He didn't know really why it bugged him so much since he knew they were best friends/ex-gang brothers, or whatever. But it just didn't sit well with him.

Sasuke opted to keeping all his clothes on minus his shoes and wet jacket. He grabbed a fuzzy throw blanket off the side of the couch and settled on the olive green love seat next to the coffee table.

**_Green to match your envy._**

_What?_

**_Someone is pissed that Gaara is sleeping with_**—**_what do you call him again_**—**_oh, yeah, sleeping with 'your' blonde._**

_You're so lucky I'm too tired to argue._

**_Oh, I'm not lucky. I plan this stuff._**

_Of course you do._

"Goodnight." He heard Naruto mumble to everyone.

Not getting any replies back. Close to everyone was out cold.

_Goodnight, Naruto._

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**Thanks for reading!** Wow that was a random chapter! Oh, I didn't make broom-ball up, you really can play it in California...or well you can in my city and my cousin's... me being in SoCal and my cousin being in NorCal, so I assume it is throughout California. Have you guys ever heard of it? So how did you like it? It seems that my chapters are gradually becoming longer...do you think that's a good thing? It was kind of just a fun, fluffy chapter :P

**Oh! I have a sideshot for Love Game!**** Called J'adore! **You guys liked Toni so much so I decided to write her into a sideshot. It is like a rogue chapter 11, it's Toni, Naruto and Sasuke's trip to Ichiraku's; it's in Toni's perspective! **Go read it!**


	17. Café Confessions

**Disclaimer: Kishimoto pities me but he has yet to give...I'll wear him down, eventually...^_^;  
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**A/N: **Yeah...well...I really shouldn't be writing anything today because tomorrow is my English final and I have yet to read Huck Finn...but who could blame me I can't understand anything they say...damn I'm sooo going to fail DX Good thing my other final tomorrow is Math, which I know I'll get an A. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy XD**  
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**Chapter 17: **Café Confessions

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"Rise and shine!"

None of the boys stirred.

Sasuke snuggled in deeper to the pillow he was clutching as he heard footsteps fade as they got farther away from him. He was falling back to sleep when all of a sudden he felt rush of cold.

Wet cold. A seeping wet cold.

He jumped up, wide eyed. Someone had dumped a jug of water on him. A whole fucking jug of water. The blonde perpetrator was now laughing mercilessly. Doubled over with the jug in question still in hand. Caught red handed as they say. Sasuke was soaking wet and steaming mad. And he knew who he was about to take it out on.

"Naruto!"

"Sup, Sleeping Beauty? I wasn't about to kiss you, so I decided water was the next best thing."

**_Kiss_?_! Yes, please._**

_Wasn't...he said "wasn't"...listen carefully._

**_But why?_**

_'Cause he knows that there is an inner pervert in my head._

**_You told him?_**

_I was kidding._

"Why did you have to wake me up in the first place?" Sasuke asked angrily. "None of the other guys are awake!"

"Eh, I thought you would be the most fun to wake up like that. Plus it's like eleven o'clock. Sleeping time is over!" Naruto grinned. "Wanna help me wake the others?"

Sasuke smiled and immediately agreed. But first he asked for a new shirt since the one he was wearing now was completely wet.

Naruto obliged, they walked up to his room that was down the hall to the right. The room was a stark white, very minimalistic. There was a solidarity bed, nightstand, lamp and desk, all a matching light wood stain. The only thing Sasuke saw that wasn't part of the basics was an orange iPod sitting nicely wrapped up in it's own earphone wires on the nightstand.

The blonde slid open his closet door and riffled through all that he owned looking for a shirt that would fit the tall raven.

He pulled one T-shirt off the hanger and showed it Sasuke saying it would probably fit.

Sasuke just stared making no move to grab it. "You expect me to wear that?"

"Yeah, why not? Not designer enough for you, rich boy?"

"No...it's not that..."

"Then?"

"Let's leave it at that orange isn't my color..."

"What's wrong with orange?" The blonde huffed.

"Everything...?"

Naruto mumbled about picky people, rich picky people more specifically. Talking about you should wear what he so kindly gives you, but nevertheless the blonde shoved more clothes aside to look for a more subdued shirt that could fit. Luckily, Naruto did wear a lot of baggy clothes, so he found one quickly enough. He plucked off a plain simple white V-neck and shoved it at Sasuke.

"This one's fine, right?"

"Yeah," Sasuke said easily looking at the thankfully normal shirt. He was so relieved that Naruto had had something like this because as he watched Naruto go through his things all he could see was a bunch of neon colors. Not exactly fit the raven's personality.

"So?" The blonde asked.

"So...?"

"Aren't you going to change?"

"Are you going to leave this room?"

"Why should I, this is my room."

"But I'm going to change..."

"So?"

"Never mind," Sasuke mumbled as he turned his back slightly to Naruto. He rapidly pulled off his currently wet shirt and replaced it with Naruto's dry one. Naruto's watched the raven's shoulder blades flex from the movement. But Sasuke was standing in front of a mirror...

_A six pack, the teme has a fucking six pack_?_!_

**_Hot..._**

_This is so not cool. The boy looks like a girl, but has a fucking six pack!_

**_Hott..._**

_I don't think he has lifted anything in his life. God forbid, physical exertion. But he has a fucking six pack!_

**_Hottt..._**

_I had to work out for like forever to get abs! And still have to work out to keep them! Yet this prissy has them effortlessly! Life is not fair!_

**_Hotttt..._**

_I think inner me has gone into shock..._

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked waving his hand in the blonde's face wondering when he was going to come out of his little trance.

The blonde's eyes snapped to attention. "Huh, What? True. False. All of the above!" But then he focused on Sasuke's face. "Wait, yes?"

"Nothing, you were just staring randomly off into space..."

"Hah, my bad," he replied, "Let's go get the others!"

They made their way back to the living room only to find out that the rest of the guys were all awake. Well, Shikamaru looked semi-coherent, so they thought it counted as awake. It'll be as awake as he would get in the morning. They all were standing with their arms crossed against their chests.

Naruto pouted, there goes all his fun. Now they couldn't throw water on the rest of the guys. So unfair. "Why're you all awake? You were asleep five minutes ago."

Gaara laughed, "You thought we would let you dump water on us?"

"How did you know?"

"Sasuke shrieking like a little girl was enough to wake all of us. You explained the rest."

"Oh," Naruto said, frowning.

"I didn't shriek like a little girl," Sasuke mumbled defensively.

They ignored him.

"But good effort, man. You should have woken me up first, I would've helped you." Kiba complained, plopping himself back onto the couch he had just gotten up off of. Snatching up his shirt that lay on the floor, shoving it up back over his head. Repeating the process with his jeans.

Naruto laughed. "I thought about it but then I couldn't do anything to you then. And where is the fun in that?"

"So what do you guys wanna do today?" He asked happily, thinking of all the fun things they could do together today. Crossing out all the things they had done, in his mind made list. Not noticing that none of the guys had yet to answer.

"Umm...about that..." Kiba started, but didn't dare finish.

"What?"

"Uh, my mom's coming to pick me up because I've gotta get Akamaru to the vet today. We think he may have a stomach worm..."

"But, it's Thanksgiving Break, can't you reschedule?"

"Nah, man. Sorry." The brunette grinned sheepishly. "But we'll hang out for sure later this week, ya?"

Naruto frowned. "Yeah, sure."

The blonde looked around the room to notice that something was missing. "Where's Shikamaru? He was here like a second ago."

"He left while Kiba was talking. He said he wanted more sleep so he went back to his place." Gaara filled in.

"Oh," Naruto said, wondering how he could have missed the sound of the door creaking open. Trust him it squeaked loudly. "And you, Gaara?"

"Well, my sister and brother are coming home from college for the break to my place. So I have to go too," he said while walking to the door, turning around when he had finished. Opening the door and smiling apologetically.

"Great," the blonde huffed. He watched the redhead leave the house after saying goodbye. It left them waiting for Kiba's mom. They talked about the highlights of last night bringing back all the most embarrassing moments. Kiba and Naruto laughed when Sasuke said that their team dominated. It was never good to be outnumbered by the other team. Soon enough Kiba's mom had arrived.

They bid him goodbye.

The apartment seemed oddly empty afterwards, even Iruka was gone to the hospital for the morning shift. So the house was deserted from all living life outside Sasuke and Naruto, who where both just standing idly in the living room.

"Guess that leaves just you and me," Sasuke said.

"Guess it does."

It was after that when Naruto realized that he hadn't had dinner the night before or breakfast this morning. His stomach growled for good measure. He was starving. Being a growing boy he couldn't go a few hours without eating, let alone a whole day.

"I'm hungry," Naruto said, pointing out the obvious.

"Me too."

"Let's go get brunch!"

"Fine." The raven smiled at the thought.

* * *

"Café de Feuilles" The gold, cursive sign announced.

It was a well known café in Konoha. It wasn't very fancy though it had a French name. Everything French was fancy, but not in this case. It was more of a cozy, little, solid brick place that people came to for good coffee and pastries. The building itself was tucked away in a small nook of the town, covered in overgrown ivy. It added to the feel they were going for.

Sasuke opened the short wrought iron gate letting Naruto go in first. Smirking when Naruto almost tripped on the cobblestone pathway.

They escorted themselves into the restaurant and immediately were assaulted by a variety of smells. All from the freshly made sweets that were sitting out on the counters to cool. It was nice and warm inside, one from the baking and two because it was heated. The temperature outside was extremely cold. It also looked like they might have some more rain in the weather forecast.

The café was rather empty. Then again this wasn't exactly the time most people came to eat. They watched as the employees lazed around.

Naruto and Sasuke sat themselves down at a table for two in the extreme corner of the room. Naruto having to get on his tippy toes to hoist himself up onto the high, cushioned barstool. Sasuke laughed at the blonde, teasing him about his height.

Naruto puffed out his cheeks when he knew that he really didn't have a comeback to Sasuke's joke because they were so true.

They stopped talking when they saw a waitress making her way over to them, pad in hand. She had a cute little, ruffled black, half apron on that was more for looks than function. She was talking and walking besides a male who was dressed in a butler sort of outfit. Black vest, dress shirt, shoes and pants. The whole nine yards.

Both of them stopped at their table, smiling cordially.

"Hello, what would you like?" The girl asked automatically to both of them.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Hot chocolate...and three croissants...and a blueberry muffin, plus a scone. Yum!" Naruto laughed, already picturing the food. Sasuke stared at him wondering where all the food went. The boy stayed as lithely built as ever.

The girl turned to Sasuke, hand poised over the pad, saying, "And you?"

"Just coffee. Black."

"Ok, right away, sir," She said looking down diligently while writing. The waitress and the boy turned in synchronization and started for the kitchen. It was like they were joined at the hip or something.

"Three criossants? Really, Dobe?" Sasuke smirked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey if you are paying might as well make the most out of it!" Naruto smirked back.

"You're the sole reason I'm going broke."

"_What_?" Naruto asked suddenly serious. "That asshole! What kind of father does that to his own fle—"

"I was only joking," the raven said quickly stopping the blonde in the middle of his tirade before he got too worked up.

"Oh." He felt stupid.

"Dobe."

"Teme."

Sasuke was starting to love their offensive nicknames for each other. It made him secure that everything was going ok. When the stopped insulting each other then he knew something was wrong.

"Yesterday was fun, I have to admit."

Naruto smiled triumphantly. "I told you so. And you guys were all whining in the beginning."

"Yeah, who would have thought that a game made for getting hurt would be so amusing."

"Now you are thinking like a teenage boy," Naruto joked.

"So I am," Sasuke replied thoughtfully. He glanced around the place to see if the waitress might be returning with there order. But no such luck. He thought it odd since they were the only people in there. How long could it take to prepare. He shrugged.

"I still can't believe you hadn't heard of broom-ball before. You've lived in Konoha longer than I have too!"

"I don't think anyone had before this," the raven countered.

"Nah-ah. Kiba did."

"He doesn't count."

"Why not?"

"He's an idiot like you. You guys work on the same idiot frequency."

Naruto stuck out his tongue childishly at Sasuke. Who took full enjoyment out of the now miffed Naruto.

"You know I keep forgetting that you've only just come to Konoha. Like this year."

"I know, me too. I feel like I've been here for all my life."

"Guess you like it here then."

"Hell yeah. I don't think I ever want to move again. There's one thing here that really makes me want to stay though," Naruto said, directly looking Sasuke in the eyes.

"Yeah?" Sasuke asked eagerly.

The blonde laughed. "Ichiraku's, duh!"

"Duh, of course..."

"So that's why I can't get expelled from East Konoha High!"

"East Konoha High?" A voice asked curiously.

Sasuke and Naruto turned to see who the new voice was. It was of course the waitress back with Sasuke's coffee and Naruto's order. She poured out the black coffee in a decorative mug that look like it came from a pottery barn. While the boy set down the tray of pastries, accompanied by a mug of steaming hot cocoa in front of Naruto. They said thank you on reflex.

"So yeah, East Konoha High?" The boy followed up.

"Yeah, that's where we go," Naruto said, conversationally.

"No way us too." The girl clapped. "This is our mom's café, so we work part time. But yeah, that's where we go to school. We're juniors."

"That probably explains why we've never seen each other before. We're seniors."

"So do you seniors got names?"

"Oh, hah, I'm Naruto Uzumaki." The blonde pointed to himself. "And this is Sasuke Uchiha."

Both eyes widened in sync when the names and faces registered in their minds.

"Your the two guys on the news. The gay couple that ruined Uchiha Corp.!" The boy shouted in surprise.

"Haha, not really."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it was all a hoax so that Sasuke got out of his arranged marriage. We aren't really going out," Naruto explained. While stuffing the first of the croissants into his mouth. Washing it down with a hearty swig of cocoa. The raven following in suit with a reserved sip of his coffee.

"Oh, now that is what you call family drama."

"So you guys are?"

"I'm sorry. I'm Tora." She said pointing to herself. "And this is Sora. We're fraternal twins."

"I figured as much you guys are like attached at the hips."

"We've been told that before." They laughed together. And now that Sasuke looked closely they could have passed off as identical. Tora looked just like Sora, but with longer hair and vice versa. They both were of short stature with jade eyes and shiny chestnut colored hair. Their hair being littered with bobby pins, to keep it up and away from their faces.

"But to tell you the truth," Tora said gazing at Naruto. "I've actually seen you before. Actually a lot. I've wanted to talk to you, but never could."

"Oh, yeah, at school?"

"Yeah."

"Cool."

"Mmmhmm, and you know I was thinking. 'Cause you aren't really gay. Maybe you might like to go out on a date with me?" Tora asked, smiling shyly, looking up though her lashed. The poor girls cheeks were redder than the cherries in his scone.

Naruto smiled flirtatiously, knowing that he couldn't turn her down after her mustering up the courage to ask in the first place. "Of course, sounds great."

**_That bitch!_**

_He's his own free man. Bitch..._

**_Finally, we agree on something._**

* * *

**Thanks for reading!** Is that a love rival I see? No, no, no, first I have to develop her as a character and _then _she'll be a threat XD And Sasuke and inner Sasuke agree, what is this world coming too?_!_ Haha...don't hurt me! So what do you think is going to happen to our favorite couple_?_!

**Oh! I have a new fic called Vanity Fair**...I think you can guess what it is about...go check it out! For me...pretty please? Fine, don't then *goes to her emo corner to cry*


	18. Step Right Up

**Disclaimer: Sheesh, you people have a short term memory span. You put Dori to shame. I don't own him!**

**A/N: **Sorry that it took a while to update, I was like, "This weekend I'm so going to update because it is three day off for me to do nothing but write."...and then I realized I was going to a sleepover...and I just didn't do anything FF_._net related. Funny enough though, Sunday morning when my friend's twin came home from some church thing, I caught her reading FF on her iPod touch and I was like, "Hell, on Monday I'm doing nothing but writing the next chapter so I can update!"  
So here I'm updating!...the day after -_-;; And it is kinda boring chapter...wow, I'm a horrible person XO

* * *

**Chapter 18: **Step Right Up

* * *

_-three days later-_

"How can you go on a date with a girl you don't even know?_!_" Sasuke asked Naruto rather loudly. The raven watched as the blonde shuffled through his closet in efforts to find something to wear. He shook his head as he saw Naruto once again mumble to himself and throw another shirt to the ground. He had been doing this for a good ten minutes and the carpet was now littered with rejected outfits.

"Are you here to help me get ready, or are you trying to talk me out of this? 'Cause if it the second one, you can leave," Naruto said without looking back at Sasuke.

"It's not that I want to talk you out of it...it's just that I want to..."

**_...talk you out of this._**

_Oh, like you don't want to._

**_I'm not saying I don't want to, I'm just saying that you want to, too._**

_Fine, so what should we do?_

**_I'll tell you when I think of something._**

_Some good you are._**_  
_**

"You just want to what?" The blonde questioned out loud since it seemed as though Sasuke wasn't planning on finishing his sentence otherwise.

"I want to make sure that _you _are sure of what you are about to do, Dobe." The raven completed.

"You make it sound like this is a life or death decision, or something," Naruto joked.

"Haha, yeah," Sasuke laughed along, halfheartedly. "I'm just thinking about you and her."

"How's this thinking of her?"

"Well...you never know maybe she _really _likes you, or something. So she'll be heartbroken when she finds out this is the one and only date she'll ever get with you. So it is like you're torturing her with going on this date now because this is the last one, too; like giving her a taste of something she'll love only to take it away. So this is cruel considering the poor girl's earnest feelings. So better to spare the heartbreak and just not go on this date," Sasuke rambled on.

"Hold your horses, Captain Melodramatic. Who says this'll be the last date. Maybe I'll fall for her too. You never know." Naruto justified.

Which effectively shut the raven up. He didn't even want to think about Naruto actually falling for the girl that would make his life that much harder. He was so happy that he had been pre-accepted to a number of universities, or he would be juggling college with this idiot's love dilemmas.

"Where are you guys going anyway?"

"Took you long enough to ask. I think I'll take her to the local amusement park."

"How cheesy."

The blonde smiled. "I know, but admit it: girls love cheesy."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure deep down they yearn for cheesy stuff and all things cliché." He laughed, but then immediately wanted to hit himself for doing so. This was not the time to be laughing about girls and what they like. Actually he was pretty sure there was never a time for that.

He needed to figure out what to do since it wasn't like Naruto was going to back down now. Everyone knows that is rude. The only way he wouldn't go is if Tora canceled herself, and Sasuke had no idea how he was supposed to make that happen. Even if he was an Uchiha, he was pretty sure it wasn't under his realm of influence where he could make a sixteen year old girl to back out of a date. Especially a date with a hot, blonde senior...

"How does this look?" Naruto asked, snapping Sasuke out of his brooding. And in the time he had been thinking about completely pointless topics, Naruto had changed into a laid-back emerald V-neck, dark-wash skinny jean combo.

To which Sasuke thought that all Naruto's deliberating was also pointless since in the end he was just going to wear a T-shirt and skinny jeans, or something to that effect. It was like a teen male's uniform. So really it was senseless to go through his closet looking for a suitable outfit when they were all going to be variations of each other in the first place.

"It looks fine," Sasuke answered.

"Fine? Is fine all you got for an adjective in that big vocabulary of yours?" Naruto joked.

"No, I just decided to keep my vocabulary use simple when talking to you. That way you can understand at least half the words that come out of my mouth." He shot back. "Last thing I want is you to keep asking me what the newest word meant, like at the party."

"Teme."

"Dobe."

Naruto grinned and turned away to quickly throw his favorite dog tag around his neck. It had been a gift from Kiba on his past birthday. He glanced back up at the closet mirror to tousle his hair once more for good measure. The blonde also picked through his random accessories, grabbing his two leather bracelets, braided and plain. He had gotten them from DisneyWorld when he went on vacation with his dad. The thick, plain one had his name inscribed onto it in boyish script and they never left his arm.

"All good?" Naruto said seeking a second opinion.

"Yeah," Sasuke commented evenly, though he wanted to say something more. It was plain as day that the dobe looked pretty damn good, but Sasuke would never be able to say that to his face. Especially when he was going on a date with some random girl they just happened to meet. And happened to go to their high school. _And _who had just happened to already know Naruto.

Just his luck.

"Well, I think this would be a good time for me to leave if I want to get to her place by four." Naruto contemplated. "So let's go."

"Yeah."

Sasuke and Naruto both walked to the family room and out the front door. But before they left Naruto nabbed his jacket off the side of the couch and shrugged it on, shoving the sleeves up to his elbows. It was a motorcycle-esque, russet leather jacket. And the red undertones worked wonders with his vibrant green shirt.

**_Da-yum, looking that good should be against the law._**

_When did inner me turn black?_

_**You don't even want to know**._

"Nice leather jacket." The raven snorted, though he was slightly stunned that Naruto would have something that trendy.

The blonde laughed as he did a smooth 360 moonwalk circle on his shag carpet. "Thanks, it was my dad's I wear it all the time. Weather beaten leather is hot, right?"

"You keep telling yourself that..."

_**...because it's so true.**_

Naruto flipped him off and escorted himself out the door. They discussed the date and other detail as they walked together to their separate cars. Naruto worried about the smallest detail but Sasuke put them to ease as best he could without out right yelling about how he shouldn't be going on this date. But the walk down the staircase was only so long, and soon enough Sasuke was watching Naruto's car disappear to what he assumed was Tora's house, or even the cafe again.

But that is when Sasuke made the snap decision to follow him.

* * *

"Shit! Where the fuck did he go, dammit!" Sasuke swore loudly.

**_Hmm...I think outer you is becoming black, too._**

Sasuke had gotten to the amusement park right after Naruto. He had followed him from the cafe where he picked Tora up, and more or less tailgated them to the park. He scowled at the memory of Tora being all dolled up for the date. She obviously was trying too hard. Who else would wear a vintage style dress, patterned tights, and ballet flats outfit to an amusement park? A small part of Sasuke knew that it was probably just her style, but he tried not to listen to that part of him.

The obnoxious light up sign met him at the entrance of the carnival type area. It had its array of bright primary colors and themed booths right as he entered the park. He also got a few odd looks for coming alone and being the completely stoic person he was, his presence screamed "out of place".

As he had strolled in through the ticket checking counter place the first thing that caught his attention was the 100-ft high Ferris wheel that was clearly the focal point of the amusement park. What he hated most though was that right as he entered the place he got a number of people trying to sell him something. How could his demeanor not turn them off automatically?

Scratch that, what the hated the most was the number of girls that were coming on to him because it was obvious that he didn't have a date, or any sort of companion in that respect. What he found odd though was usually the girls date would be standing right next to her date when she made her move on him. The audacity.

He had even made sure to wear a pair of dark, overbearing sunglasses and a unimpressive baseball hat. It was almost comical to see the raven with his hair not sticking up thanks to the hat.

But back to the point, he had seen Naruto and Tora enter the park together hand and hand, but lost them when a street vendor tried to sell him some cotton candy. Did he look like the guy that liked sweets? Yeah, he had no idea what was going on in that man's head when he asked. Sasuke hadn't been polite when he turned the offer down. So by the time he extracted himself from that, Naruto and Tora were no where to be found. That was not a good sign.

This leads back to where he was now, which was sitting at some bench in between a couple of potted plants. Why they had fake looking potted plants here he couldn't fathom, but those questions where hardly his main problem here. So here he sat thinking about where the blonde would have gone first.

**_Rollercoaster._**

_What?_

**_He will be at the largest rollercoaster._**

_How do you know?_

**_Have you seen Naruto?_**

_Yeah...?_

**_He's the type of guy that will go straight to the biggest and/or shiniest object in the room._**

_...it's sad how you have a point.  
_

This lead to Sasuke doing what he avoided at all cost.

Yes, asking strangers for help.

He didn't exactly know what rollercoaster was the biggest here at Konoha Karnival so he decided to ask the least happy employee where to look. Luckily, he spotted a frowning ice cream vendor dealing with a couple of bratty children only a few feet away from him. A perfect candidate.

Sasuke casually walked up to the man, and then grudgingly asked, "Sir, do you know where there largest coaster is?"

The gruff looking man scanned him, grunting, "Yeah, sonny. It's at the far side of the park. Called The Behemoth. Hard to miss."

"Thanks," he responded quickly, turning away before he was forced to talk anymore. He made record time across the length of the park. Skipping past all the random attractions, bright lights, shows, banners, banners for shows, and just awe-inspiring talents of the many people.

Sure enough The Behemoth was pretty hard to miss just like that man had said. For one, it was tall. And Sasuke meant tall in the most literal sense. This coaster was _tall_, and huge in general for that matter. It took up a good sixth of the park as a whole. And aside from the Ferris wheel it was probably the only other ride that this place was known for. Passing through the park, the raven had seen nothing that matched those two attractions grandeur and hype.

Standing behind a low barrier between the coaster and the petite restaurant on the opposite side of the line, Sasuke found a mop of bright blonde hair reflecting the sunlight, next to an equally shiny chestnut colored brunette waiting in line for their turn.

That was surprisingly easily.

He gazed at them inconspicuously, a little jealous to see that Tora was now wearing Naruto's aviators. The sunglasses looked ridiculously over-sized on her small face, practically falling off the end her pert nose. Her short bob was also now slicked back into a pointy, high ponytail, not including her long side-swept bangs.

He grimaced as he saw them laugh in unison to an unheard joke. He slinked sideways not taking his eyes of the pair for a second in fear of losing them again. Where they would go from standing in line he didn't know, but anything was possible when it came to Naruto. But he wanted to get closer to the couple, as in hearing distant. He was not sure how much more silent laughter he could take. Especially considering he had only seen it once and he was already fed up with the sight.

All of a sudden he felt a solid thud as he hit someone while not paying attention. The raven nearly toppled sideways, being caught off guard, but managed to regain his balance as he latched on to the side of a planter that was beside him. The other person had not been so lucky, and had fallen flat on their butt.

Sasuke helped the other person up after he offered his hand. As he hoisted the other up, the person's hood fell backwards reveling an all too familiar face. The boy tried fruitlessly to pull back up his hood and put his sunglasses up before Sasuke could register his face, but it was too late. That split second was enough for the raven to recognize the face for the last couple hours he had been brooding over.

"Sora? Is that you?"

"Ahem, yeah." The boy coughed blushing at being caught so easily. "Sasuke, right?"

"Yeah, Sasuke." The raven affirmed. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing. Can't a man enjoy himself at an amusement park alone?"

"Not when he is wearing a hoodie conspicuously with dark sunglasses. And when his _twin _sister happened to be here on a date." Sasuke reasoned. "There is no coincidence there."

"Well...well...I could say the same about you!" Sora countered. "What're _you _doing here alone, dressed _conspicuously_? Huh? What's your excuse?"

"My reason doesn't matter. Either way, I asked you first."

"Talk about avoiding the question." Sora snorted. "But if you must know...I'm here for my sister."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Like, I'm just not use to being separated and I wanted to keep an eye on her. So there you caught me." The boy admitted, throwing his hand in the air dramatically. "At least I have a perfectly reasonable reason. What's your story?"

At that Sasuke realized why exactly he was here in the first place. His head jerked up to find Naruto's messy do, but was meet with strange new heads. Damn, when he had been talking to the twin they must have gotten away. Now what was he supposed to do. Though he had no real idea what he had been planning to do after getting closer to them.

"So...?" Sora pushed.

"So what?"

"So why're you here?"

"None of your business."

"Wow, I tell you why I'm here and yet you still won't share your reason. That's just rude."

Sasuke shrugged. But then he felt an evil grin stretch across his face. Sora all but shivered from the sight. The raven grabbed Sora's upper arm and pulled him behind one of those nicely placed potted plants, making sure that they were obstructed from Naruto and Tora's view if there where still around that area and happened to look back.

"Sora, my friend, I think I have a deal you may be interested in."

* * *

"That was great!" Tora giggled happily, linking arms with Naruto. Swaying slightly, almost tipsy, evidently suffering from a minor case of vertigo after that trip on the rollercoaster. They stumbled to the waiting area next to The Behemoth. The area was mainly reserved for the people that where too short to ride, or the people who didn't want to go but still had to wait for their given family member.

Thankfully there were an ample amount of scattered benches along with the plant foliage. Tora plopped herself down on one, adjusting her across-the-shoulder mini-bag to sit properly on her. She was followed immediately by Naruto.

"That was fun!" Naruto agreed a couple minute late, his brain had been left behind while traveling so fast on the ride. It needed to catch up to him.

"Mmhmm. I think we should go on another round, yeah?"

"I'm all for it! So are you having a good time?" Naruto asked earnestly.

Tora couldn't help but stare at his wide eyes for a while before realizing that he had asked a question. Meaning he was waiting for an answer. "Yes! I'm having a blast!"

"Good," Naruto said, satisfied. He grinned back down at her. He didn't notice as he unknowingly leaned in closer being sucked in by her doe shaped, jade eyes. Looking down to see the carnation pink lips coming to meet his own.

_Finally, some action._

**_You whore!_**

_What the fuck, why am I a whore?_

**_You have Sasuke! And here you are about to kiss this girl._**

_There is only one thing._

**_Yeah?_**

_Yeah, Sasuke is a boy, and Tora is thankfully a girl._

**_Let me rephrase: you bisexual whore!_**

Tora couldn't help but feel the same. Being sucked into his whirlpool like eyes. Tilting her head to the side, as she gazed at his mouth, closing her eyes ever so slightly. She rested the palms of her hands on the blonde's knees as she bent forward herself.

But before they could meet they both sensed something fly past them. Their eyes snapped open, to see what had caused the sudden rush of air between them.

"Is that a fork?" Naruto asked confused.

"With chili fries still on it?" Tora added.

They swiveled their heads back and forth, scanning to see the source, but were met with deserted ground. The only thing that seemed out of place was a tree in a planter that they could have sworn wasn't as close to them as they though it had been when they had sat down.

"Soooooo...another round on The Behemoth?" The blonde suggested, still bewildered.

"Yeah, another round," she answered, getting up off the bench, ready to get away from this place.

...and it's mysteriously flying forks.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! **Oh, gosh I need to take some classes to learn how to write a proper, this was sad. I should probably have read over it to catch my many mistakes. But hey, I have been oddly tired lately, so what can I say. But I think the next chapter will be more exciting, as long as I manage to get my head in the game.

But it's hard for me not to feel down, I saw The Roommate. And it was the lamest movie in the history of lame. I am depressed just thinking about spending money to watch that. There was nothing scary, it was just an overtly creepy roommate, big whoop.


	19. Funhouse

**Disclaimer: Who wants to make up the next disclaimer? Because I got nothing...except for the fact that I won't own him anytime soon, since he is worth millions and I barely have a dollar to my name...  
**

**A/N: **Chapter 19 is up! Yay! Ok, yeah I know I took awhile, I'm sorry...mostly because I can't think of a good excuse as to why...usually I'm pro at making those up XD Anyway, a selfish part of me wanted to update so I could finally get this fic to 200 reviews (You guys can help me on that front ;) I apologize ahead a time for skipping back and forth a lot in the chapter :P

* * *

**Chapter 19: **Funhouse

* * *

"What the heck are we even doing?" Sora asked skeptically.

"What does it look like we are doing, Sora?" Sasuke answered exasperated. He had explained what they were doing to Sora multiple time yet he kept asking that same question. So Sasuke decided he was just going to answer his questions with another question.

"Umm...in all honesty, it looks like we're stalking a couple of people." He said, glancing around as if to make sure no one had heard him say that just in case they called the police on them. Or whatever carnival's had as security. The Carnie Police didn't seem friendly. Sora could picture them now...and it wasn't pretty. Actually it included a lot of grotesque makeup...

"We're _not _stalking for the last time. We're following a couple people."

"Isn't that the definition of stalking?"

"No stalking is to pursue someone stealthily."

"And us following Naruto and Tora and making sure _not _to be seen, is not 'pursuing someone stealthily'?" Sora shot back.

"No, it is not," Sasuke grunted quickly, not even trying to give a reasonable argument. "We're just following for no stalking purposes, alright?"

"So says the stalker," the brunet mumbled under his breath.

Both teens were currently ducking behind a hedge barrier that acted as the backing for the bench seats they were kneeling on, with only their eyes and hat rims above the foliage. They had gotten their fair share of odd stares, but at this point in time they were, more or less, immune.

Of course, it didn't help that they were both clad in overbearing clothes, hoods, hats, and sunglasses. Yes, the whole nine yards. It would have been better for them to wear a sign saying "crazy stalker here".

Naruto and Tora were in their visibility range, once again laughing at something Naruto had said. They were sitting outside the front of a ice cream parlor called "Frost Bite", both of them happily polishing off their ice cream sundaes. Though Sasuke observed that Tora had pushed aside all the strawberries in hers to now share with Naruto. That conniving coquette.

The blonde himself was gaining great pleasure of trying to balance his spoon his nose, swaying his head in time with the spoon to assure one more second of stand-time. Tora was smiling at his silly antic, acting artfully embarrassed to be sitting with Naruto, but was easily enjoying it just as much as him.

If not more.

* * *

"Naruto, stop it. People are staring!" Tora giggled, playfully slapping Naruto's arm weakly to get him to take the spoon off of his nose. She scrapped the remnant of her paper cup, in effort to get the last of her strawberry shortcake sundae. Savoring the sweet fruity flavor.

"Let them stare." He winked. "It makes it all the more fun, yeah?" Naruto quickly shut up when the spoon started to wobble uncontrollably. But it was too late the utensil managed to fall off once again. He placed it delicately on his nose, claiming this time it wouldn't fall.

"Haha, yeah." She laughed, her tinkling laugh. "By the way, what flavor did you order anyway? Your whole cup is a hideous black stain."

"It's called Color Me Black." Naruto answered.

"I can see that, but what flavor is it?" She insisted.

"Umm...licorice, I'm pretty sure."

"Ew!" Tora shrieked, faking as if she was vomiting. "That's so gross. Why the heck did you order that one? And you tongue, lips, and teeth are black-ish, ew!"

"How could I not order it? The cashier basically dared me to. Naruto Uzumaki doesn't back down from a dare!" The blonde exclaimed while making a show of puffing out his chest causing Tora to giggle again.

"Apparently, Naruto Uzumaki doesn't do a lot of stuff," the brunette said, poking fun at Naruto's habit of referring to himself in third person when describing himself.

"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?_!_"

"I dunno..." She trailed off, smirking up flirtatiously. "Someone still has yet to finish that kiss he started today. Any guess as to who?"

"Hah, I think I have a good idea," Naruto smirked back, leaning forward to meet Tora's lips. Watching as she her eyes fluttered shut, but the soft rosy blush stayed flush on her cheeks. But just before he could close his eyes too, he was startled to feel something whizz by his face. Nearly shaving off the tip of his nose. But instead ricocheted off the umbrella stand and landing on Naruto's lap.

"Where do all these God damn forks keep coming from_!_?"

* * *

"Hey! I was using that!" Sora yelled at Sasuke who had interrupted his eating time. The brunet had gotten bored of watching his sister and Naruto flirt, and took the liberty of buying himself some more chili fries to make up for the last time Sasuke had wretched away his fork. Then dragging him away before he could finish them with a new utensil.

Only to have his fork snatched once again.

He wasn't going to be allowed to eat some damn chili fries in peace.

That was a close call. Sasuke mentally cursed.

**_So close!_**

_So close to what?_

**_Scratching up her pretty little face._**

_You know I was close to scratching up Naruto's pretty little face, too?  
_

**_Eh, so he might've gotten another set of whiskers..._**

* * *

"I have no idea where they are coming from. What if it's a conspiracy, or curse?" Tora stated a tad shaken at the close call.

The blonde whipped his head back and forth, but nothing unusual popped out at him. Just a bunch of people milling around the array of stands and other attractions, perfectly normal for a fair. Though Naruto could swear he saw the top of a navy blue cap. To which he convince himself that he was just seeing things. Like a mirage. Something to remind him of that teme.

_I wonder what the Teme is doing right now..._

**_So now we feel guilty, do we?_**

_I don't feel guilty. I was just wondering what he could be doing right now. Sheesh._

**_Pfft, that's likely. You feel guilty for going on a date with this girl when you like him._**

_No. No I don't. I don't know how you manage to take the most innocent thought and twist them back towards Sasuke._

**_What can I say? It's a talent._**

"Hey, Naruto?" Tora interrupted his thoughts. "You wanna blow this popsicle stand?"

"It's an ice cream stand, parlor thingy," Naruto pointed out laughing. " But I hear yeah, I think I wanna ditch this place too. Who knows when the next utensil missile will be launched?"

The couple got up together, grating the metal of the chair against the cement when they pushed in their chairs. They both tidied up the table and dumped the empty cup and soiled napkins into the large, red trashbin that read "Konoha Karnival". That was such a classy place to put the logo on. Or maybe, they just were making sure that it wouldn't be stolen. Which begged the question as to who would want to take a bright red trashcan from the carnival?

"Where do you wanna go now?" The blonde asked, being ever the gentleman. He held out his hand for her to grab, which she did. The started along the general paved path, not caring exactly where they were going just yet. But making sure to look at all the possible candidates on where to go that passed by them.

"Umm...well on the way here I saw the house of mirrors. And I kinda wanna try getting through it," Tora suggested. "You know prove that I'm smarter than the average carnival go...er." She furrowed her brows at her sentence and mouthed it a couple times before deeming it proper. To which she repeated it again aloud.

"Awesome," Naruto responded. "But where exactly did you say the house of mirrors was again?"

"It's okay, Naruto, I'll lead the way." Tora laughed, while pulling on his arm to make him turn in the other direction. She led them through the dense trees of the sides of the fair, just in case any rogue forks where out there on the hunt.

Which they were.

* * *

"We lost them again, dammit!" Sasuke cursed. He paced back and forth next to the very bench they had been hiding behind watching Naruto and Tora. But Sora just had to go ask another stupid question, which of course was in that exact second that Naruto decided to get up and move to their next destination.

Just his luck.

"Why are you wound up so tightly about this?" Sora asked hesitantly, afraid of the consequences.

"No freaking reason." The raven gritted out.

"For some reason I have a hard time believing that."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and stalked off a completely random direction. He ignored all the awe-inspiring shows and other eye-catching displays, determined on catching back up with Naruto. Sora struggled to keep up with the fast walking raven, it'll only be a few second until Sora was totally out of breath.

"Sasuke!" He yelled desperately.

"What?" Sasuke responded, spinning around, only to walk away from him backwards.

"Wait up, would you? Not all of us are Olympic runners," the brunet wheezed, resting his elbow on the nearest wall. Loving the swift comfort of coming to a stop after physical exertion felt like. He could feel that he was sweating, and concluded that it was high time to take off the two-sizes too big college sweatshirt. He pulled it quickly over his head, then tugging down his shirt that had ridden up in sync with it. "Much better," Sora almost sighed with relief.

Sasuke took note of Sora's diminutive, girly built. The boy could make a more convincing girl than his own sister. Well that was an obvious exaggeration, but his loose, striped tank didn't help his failing masculinity. Granted it was rather hot out for a fall day, but he was still the only guy in sight wearing a sleeveless top. Also, the fact that he was no putting his hair up in a ponytail that matched his sister to the T, didn't help anything either.

"Hey, do you have a bobby-pin?" Sora asked, pinning his free-falling bangs to the side of his head with his hand.

"Does it look like I've got bobby-pins?" Sasuke questioned incredulously.

"Honestly," the brunet said, scanning the raven's styled hair, "Yes, you look like you might have a few bobby-pins on you."

"..."

"I mean, no offense man, but you're pretty girly looking."

"This coming from a girl himself."

"No need to hate. I'm was just saying," Sora said trying to placate the raven. "Plus, you're Asian."

"Which means?"

"I don't know. It's like you can look girly just cause it's easier to look girlier if you're Asian...I don't know how to explain it but it makes sense to me."

"That doesn't sound racist at all."

"We live in a town nicknamed 'Little Japan'...We have the right to talk about Asian because all of us have _Asian _names." Sora reasoned. "Like really, my ancestry is like pure German and because our family lived in this Japanese influenced city, my name is Sora. Racist can't be applied here."

Sasuke smirked at how defensive Sora had gotten so easily. "Yeah, whatever. Let's go find Naruto."

"Aw, come on, we have no idea where to go so we might as well enjoy ourselves for a bit. Please_!_?"

Sasuke wasn't going to give in, but he admitted that he felt bad that he wasn't exactly being the nicest person in the world. Usually that didn't bug him, however the poor boy was still being nice to him whereas, most people would have walked away by now from his attitude. Might as well give the pouting kid something. Where do they sell cookies?

"Fine, what do you want?"

Sora didn't even bother answering, he just took hold of Sasuke's forearm and proceeded to dragging him to the line of food carts/stands/booths. The brunet loved food, living in a cafe his whole life never did help with the addiction. Whenever he felt the slightest bit hungry he would munch on the first pastry in sight. Lucky for him his fast metabolism and working on his feet all day long let him do so with no consequences whatsoever. Something his mother couldn't say.

Sasuke stood a few feet away from the lines, waiting for the brunet to go get whatever junk he wanted to stuff down his throat. The raven scoped out his surrounding, just in case Naruto was in close proximity. He had to admit that today was a pretty nice day. Too sunny and warm for his taste, but it was a pleasant day in some people's terms.

Sora walked up to him now holding a paper hotdog tray that had a...

"What the heck is that?" Sasuke asked confused, it looked somewhat like a hotdog on a stick. Except it have chocolate syrup and powder sugar garnish on top. The brunet took a hardy bit for good measure, before answering. Sasuke was still no closer to figuring out what it was after seeing the inside. If not more confused since it looked like fluffy dough.

"A deep fried twinkie. You want some?" He responded, his voice was a little muffled because he hadn't swallowed his first bite, Sora pushed out the twinkie out towards Sasuke in part of the offer.

When Sasuke said junk, he hadn't meant it literally. He grimaced at the though of ingesting that deep fried sugar. "Why're you eating that heart attack on a stick?"

"'Cause it's delicious, duh. Anything deep fried falls in that category."

"Uh-huh, so can we get moving again?" Sasuke said, not really as a question, more like a heads up. Which was fine considering that Sora had inhaled his deep fried twinkie in no time at all. Sora answered with a quick nod and smile. Now that he had been fed something high in fat, he was content.

A few minutes of taking a round of the right side of the fairgrounds, Sasuke hawk-like eyes spotted Naruto's head in a short line of people waiting to get into a place labeled as "The Maze of Mirrors". He was talking animatedly to Tora, who he was also holding hands with.

The both had two large grins plastered on to their face.

Disgusting.

* * *

"Yay, we're next!" Tora proclaimed, excited. She jumped up in down in place as she watched the employee wave in the couple in front of them.

"About time, too," Naruto added, he was still a tad shocked that there would be a queue before the mirrors place. Come on, it's a room, not even that, a plot with multiple mirrors arranged in it...what was the big deal. Naruto was eager to get in there by all means, but why did everyone else have to want to go here too?

"I guess they monitor it 'cause they don't want the place to get too crowded."

"Yeah, whatever I just wanna get in already."

"Ditto."

Soon enough, the apathetic employee sighed and waved them into the entrance. Naruto and Tora readily strolled through the velvet curtains that were acting as a make-shift door. Tora's eyes widened as she was confronted with several reflections of herself and Naruto. It was rather disconcerting. She did take note of the pleasant height difference between her and Naruto. They were perfect for each other.

Naruto's eyes mirrored Tora's as he took in the abundance of sparkling glass. But he was most amused as he spotted a few of the concave and convex mirrors that distorted him to be extremely fat or skinny. He also noticed that he could see the reflections of other maze goers, but couldn't see the person themselves. No wonder this was a place known to confuse people.

And to think Naruto laughed when he heard of the people who got lost in places like that. The blonde was close to certain that he would never make it out of this maze considering he was already confused like nothing else. He now respected the people who managed to navigate their way out of this death trap.

"Talk about trippy." Tora snorted.

"No kidding. I feel high just looking at the mirrors. Make sure I don't pass out or something."

"Hah, will do, Captain Courageous."

"You're just mad that now you can't pass out randomly from mirror overload."

"Yeah, that's it." She laughed, glancing around while deliberating her first move.

"Fine then, let's make it a competition. Five bucks I make it out first." Naruto bet, grinning.

"You're on!" She said, smiling, "I can't wait to accept that five bucks and dinner."

Naruto did a mental double-take. "Hey! Dinner was not part of the bargain!"

"Chicken?"

"Hell naw, Naruto Uzumaki doesn't know the definition of chicken."

"Yet you know that you aren't it?"

"Exactly," the blonde answered, shooting her a toothy grin.

He and Tora cautiously started making their way through the maze in opposite directions.

* * *

"They went into the Maze," Sasuke stated, coming out into the open, knowing that Naruto had no chance of spotting them from in there.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Sora laughed, "What's our next move?"

"I guess we follow them in..."

"You know I've got no idea why I'm still following you. But playing ninja is so fun, I don't think I care anymore."

"Good, because you better make sure you aren't caught by either of them when we get in, got it?"

"Got it, Cap'n'" The brunet sailor-saluted playfully, getting Sasuke to roll his eyes.

They made their way to the entrance of the attraction and were rapidly ushered since the line had since dwindled.

* * *

Naruto had been walking in the maze for less than a minute and already felt like his sanity was slipping away. He had no idea which direction was which, it was just a plethora of different images of himself. He self-declared that this is what it feel to be a crazy person. Not know where reality began or ended.

So not good.

It was right about then he sensed a flicker of motion behind him. Triggering him to jump around, scared to see exactly what had reflected in the mirror in front of him. There was nothing there. And his breathing returned to normal. He had no idea what had him so freaked, nothing was going to hop out at kill him. And even if something did try to kill him, he was a black belt. So he had nothing to worry about, right?

He concluded that he should never go back into a mirror maze ever again. And he was also for sure that he was going to owe Tora dinner.

He continued to watch the mirrors move with him. He was comforted that the odd movement not tied to him had stopped. He hoped that he was getting closer to the end, though the maze didn't seem nearly as bad no that he had gotten used to it.

All of a sudden, he accidentally bumped into a mirror. He then immediately felt stupid for not noticing a rather solid mirror situated directly in front of him.

* * *

"Sasuke? ...Sasuke?" Sora asked hesitantly, poking him couple of times in the shoulder for an answer.

"What is it now?" He responded quickly, not caring to turn and look at Sora. They had just entered the maze for themselves, finding themselves stumped on where to go from there since they hadn't watched Naruto go in a specific direction.

"I'm a little freaked."

"Why?" Sasuke questioned, confused.

"Don't you ever get this odd feeling that something horrible is about to happen?"

"No, no I don't."

"Well, I do and it's currently yelling at me. That is _never_ a good sign."

The raven didn't reply, still preoccupied with finding Naruto again but in a way that Naruto didn't find them along the way. This was extremely troubling because Sasuke noticed that he could see the image of other people in the maze in the mirror faces yet he could not see the person themselves. Which made him think that there was a chance that Naruto had already seen him or was currently looking at him and he wouldn't know. And he had no idea how to stop that from happening, if it hadn't happened already.

Sora and him walked cautiously together through the maze, stopping at a fork in the path. After tossing a coin, they made there way onto the right branch of the pathway. Sora could feel a headache coming of from staring at the various distorted reflections.

Sasuke heard a distinct rustle of another's footsteps, causing him to rapidly flip around to scope their surrounding, just to be met with more mirrors. Being slightly paranoid at this point he decided to walk backwards so no one could sneak up on him, only to run into a odd mirror.

An oddly...fleshy mirror...

"Sora, is that you?"

"Uh-uh," Sora answered, wide-eyed. Sasuke watched as Sora's facial expression changed in front of him to pure terror.

Sasuke finally, slowly turned around.

* * *

The blonde rubbed his forehead and glance up at that so-called mirror to see a paralyzed Sasuke standing next to an equally still...Sora, Tora's twin brother.

"Sasuke!_?_" Naruto asked, befuddled. "What are you doing here?"

"Umm...just enjoying the carnival..."

"But you knew I was coming to this carnival for my date...so why did you choose to here, too?"

"Oh...you meant this carnival...when you said carnival..." Sasuke trailed off lamely, searching for a legit reason for showing up randomly like this.

"Yeah, when I said 'going to the Konoha Karnival'. I meant the Konoha Karnival, you know the one and only..." Naruto said raising an eyebrow. "So what _are _you doing here?"

"Hah, yeah, funny story..."

"I have never heard a funny story from you before...go on."

Sasuke gulped, not knowing where he was going with this.

**_Lie._**

_Thank you, I hadn't thought of that._

**_Yup, I'm here to help._**

_Fine, if you wanna help think of a lie!_

Before Sasuke could register what he was saying he said inner Sasuke suggestion automatically..."I'm here on a date with Sora." And as soon as what he said clicked a slightly horrified look passed over his features, though he manage to salvage a calm demeanor.

"What?" Both Sora and Naruto's jaws hitting the ground...hard.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!** Ugh, Ninny-na no guessing plot points! Bad! Bad, Ninny! On other notes...yeah...I'm sorry for the lame-ish chapter. I did not find it funny...did you find it funny? I hardly ever find anything funny cause I am the one who made the joke...if that makes sense... And I am sorry I have been so lazy, but I am a lazy person. Also, for people who follow my other story, uh sorry for updates, I'll makes sure to write up something soon! Gasp, what will happen to Sasuke now? (No, guessing right! :P)


	20. Double Date

**DISCLAIMER: Last time I checked, I'm not a 36 year old man from Nagi, Okayama, Japan with a twin brother...just saying...  
**

**A/N:** ...don't kill me...please...I'M SORRY, DAMMIT! I slept through the last couple of months...and I know I haven't written anything...BUT enough about me I'm not that important...to the story...be warned the beginning is boring it gets better towards the end of the chapter...I swear!

* * *

**Chapter 20: **Double Date

* * *

Sasuke jabbed Sora hard in the side, in a way that Naruto couldn't see. He gritted, slowly repeating, "I'm on a date with Sora...Right, Sora?**"**

Sora looked back at him hesitantly, unwilling to respond. After getting a hard look form Sasuke, he finally slowly said, "Yeah, a date."

"What...?" Naruto questioned in disbelief. The shock of the news apparently hadn't set in since his jaw was still hanging slack.

The raven wasn't sure if he was even trying to listen anymore, he had been explaining for a while now. Sora even tried waving his hand in front of his face to illicit a response, to no avail. But Sasuke decided it was better to keep talking before he gained his composure and carefully analyzed anything. That would be when the holes in their logic would appear. Then again, this was Naruto he was referring to, so you never know. It really wasn't like he was looking for gaps in logic. He took most everything in face-value.

"Uh...yeah so...basically, I did know that you and Tora were going to be here," Sasuke started, addressing Naruto, "But I thought we wouldn't run into you in such a big place. I wanted to take Sora on a date for some while now and you coming here with Tora gave me the idea that maybe that Sora would also...probably like this place. Them being twins and all. You know, similar tastes..." Sasuke knew very well that he was just babbling like a fool now, though he was just as certain that it really didn't matter.

"Wa-wa-wait...what?" Naruto managed to stutter out, his eyes the size of saucers.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. This was ridiculous, he knew it would be hard to accept, but was a gay guy not allowed to ever go on a date? "Me and Sora, Sora and me, Sasuke and Sora, Sora and Sasuke, _we_ are on a date. Here. At the carnival. Now. Got it?" The raven said with exaggerated movements and enunciation.

The blonde finally seemed to be coming back to reality. He quickly understood that he looked like a fool. Naruto immediately straightened up, set his jaw, and put on a goofy, crooked smile back at the pair.

"Aw, how cute. But Sora I didn't know you were gay too? Not that it's all that hard to believe. I mean look at you. Wow, guys that's cool. We can like double date now, huh? I would have never thought that you would date Sora. This is kinda crazy. Mostly 'cause I really couldn't picture Sasuke on a date with anyone. Boy or girl. What a coincidence that we would both fall for one of the siblings! Haha," the blonde said talking rapidly.

**_This is what you get..._**

_What is what I get?_

**_Sasuke is so fed up with you that he's dating another guy._**

_It really shouldn't matter who he dates. It doesn't have anything to do with me._

**_Yeah, sure, whatever. So says the guy is talking a mile a minute because of shock._**

_Yeah, I'm talking like this out of shock and _nothing_ else._

**_Rrrriiiight..._**

_Hey, no stretching out your words to show disbelief!_

**_Suuuuurre..._**

_Ugh!_**_  
_**

"Hah...uh...yeah..." Sasuke trailed off awkwardly. He hadn't thought this through obviously because he wouldn't have said it in the first place if he had. He also had no idea where to go from here. He glanced at Sora to see how the poor kid was fairing, but his eyes were practically glazed over too out of sheer surprise.

_Was it that hard for people to picture me on a date, dammit?_!

**_Yup!_**

_Fuck you._

**_And that is why._**

"Well, I guess since we're both here we might as well act like this is a double date, right?" Naruto asked, though you could see in his eyes that this was no question: it was a brilliant idea that must be followed through on. Even so, there was almost something fake in his too wide smile...like it was over-stretched.

"Of course," Sasuke agreed, when unable to think of anyway out of this horrendous trench he had dug within a few minutes. A world record. "Come on, Sora," the raven strained to get out as he grabbed the brunet by the arm.

Naruto lead for a bit, then deciding to let Sasuke navigate through the mirror death-trap. He was already getting woozy looking at their distorted reflections, but he still claimed it was not that he wasn't able to on his own, rather that he wanted to give Sasuke the chance to look cool on his date. Biggest straight-faced lie.

Sasuke almost laughed out loud at the blonde's reasoning. Never fear, he caught himself just in time and resorted to nodding.

* * *

"Naruto!" Tora exclaimed, as he stepped out of the maze, "You owe me five bucks _and_ dinner!" She promptly latched herself to his side. It was a few seconds before she registered exactly who had come out of the exit after the blonde.

"Sora! Sasuke! What the hell? What're you guys doing here? And in the maze with Naruto at that?" She asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.

"Get this," Naruto said like he had the biggest secret in the world, "They're on a date!"

"No way!" She gasped, theatrically. Her eyes darting quickly from her brother and Sasuke as if she wanted some sort of reassuring nod; like Naruto would make all this up to call her gullible.

"Hah...yeah way..." Sora answered dryly, anyone could sense that he wasn't amused. But another pointed look from Sasuke, he decided to play along well if only for the assurance for his own well being.

"Sora, I didn't know you were gay?" Tora questioned still looking skeptical.

"Uh...well..." the brunet was going to glance at Sasuke for guidance, but figured he would have to wing it either way, "I thought I try it out. Sasuke asked me out and I was like, 'Hey, why not?' You know?"

That satisfied Tora on the explanation front, though to Sasuke it sounded pretty weak. Who just says "Let's just try it out"?. It was surprising that something that important could be reduced to a "why not".

"Haha, cool. Why didn't you tell me sooner though_?_!" She whined. "It could have been a double date from the start! That would've been _awesome_!"

_Why does everyone seem to think that double dating would be so...'awesome'?_

**_I have no idea, but it is kinda creepy._**

"Well, we're are here now, together." _Unfortunately_... "So we can act like it's a double date." _Though it really isn't. _Sasuke said to stop all the discussion of "why-didn't-you-tell-us-before" since it wasn't like he could build a time machine and do it over either way.

"Awesome!" Tora exclaimed.

"...awesome..." Sora sighed.

Sasuke didn't know if it was just him but the word awesome had been used way too often in the last minute. The raven did feel almost a sense of relief that Tora so openly accepted the circumstances, with practically no suspicions.

She was so stupid.

"So whaddaya want to do now?" Naruto asked. He was bored, the original surprise had worn off and they only had a few hours left before the carnival closed. He wanted to ride a couple more rollercoasters before they had to turn in. No time for standing awkwardly in the grassy exit area for the maze.

"Umm...why don't we have dinner it's like 7-ish, yeah?" Sora suggested. He was not in the mood to do anything remotely fun. He wanted this day over an done with. He already could feel the headache coming on from the idea of having to explain himself to his mom when Tora got a hold of her. The brunet even started going through dry-runs in his head.

"That sounds great! I was just thinking about how hungry I was! You must of read my mind." Tora smiled.

"I tend to do that," Sora grinned back, unable to stop himself.

"Do what?" Naruto asked, feeling out of the loop.

"Read her mind and all. A twin thing," he explained. Sora and Tora then proceeded to fist-bump as if display their 'awesome-ness'.

* * *

The four sat across from each other in a little outside semi-decent burger joint. Sasuke at first curled his lip in disdain at the tacky, chipped red paint on the tables and the faded sign that proudly stated "Top Bun", but eventually resigned at the rest of the group's protest. He had no idea why anyone would willing, much less want to eat at a place like this.

The only real benefit at getting a bite at this over glorified shed was they practically got their food as soon as they ordered. Naruto and Sora were already on their second burgers. Sasuke admitted that the burgers tasted good, but he didn't want to know what went into making them. The gang had all bought their own serving of fries and then slid them all into one tray as a communal fries plate.

"So what did you guys do on your _date_?" Naruto asked, after polishing off his strawberry milkshake and snatching a handful of fries to shove in his mouth.

"Uh...nothing much..." Sasuke answered, uncertain.

"What do you mean nothing? You guys must have been here for hours how could you _not_ have done anything?"

"You know...we just hung out..."

Sora decided he should step in, " Yeah, we walked around a lot and just talked...umm and I ate a lot of junk food from the many booths."

Naruto laughed, "Sasuke eat junk food? Yeah right, at lunch all he eats is salad. Watching your figure, huh?"

Sasuke gave no indication that he had heard Naruto nor that he had been even listening in the first place. He never would let the dobe have the satisfaction of making fun of him. He was an Uchiha after all. They had enough pride to fuel the world. He just continued to pick at his overly greasy burger, taking a napkin and lightly pressing on the bun as if that would even begin to make it semi-healthy.

"Yeah, you're kinda right though. It was mostly me that did the eating. But I have to say that the junk food here is truly a cut above the rest. It's nothing like the cafe pastries! The sugar in the funnel cakes _or_ the fried twinkie I had would probably blow your mind!" Sora said.

"Or your heart's arteries," Sasuke mumbled still gazing at his barely touched hamburger.

"He speaks!" Sora joked. "And has a sense of humor! Or at least a sense of sarcasm...Who knew? Actually, scratch that I totally did." The brunet was in a better mood now that he had gotten a fair amount of fat in his system. And it was fun to poke at the ever sullen Sasuke.

"Shut up," the raven responded, unable to hold back that slight twitch of his lip at the kid's playful antics.

"And he smiles!" He announced. "Ladies and gentlemen remember this moment where you historically witnessed Sasuke Uchiha smile!"

The raven just hit Sora in the shoulder in order to get him to shut up properly. The brunet melodramatically clutched his shoulder like he had just received a bullet wound, yelling "how could you?". Earning him another punch from the less than amused Sasuke, hoping that he would learn to keep his mouth shut.

_Who knew the kid could be so sarcastic?_

**_I guess you're contagious._**

Naruto's eyebrow twitched.

_Blargh! The flirting is so gross._

**_Jealous?_**

_Of that? Hell no! _

**_Hmm...didn't know that you had such a strong sense of denial._**

_I'm not in denial!_

**_That's exactly what person in denial would say..._**

Tora observed the pair carefully, smiling to herself when she realized that Sora was having genuine fun with this morose-looking black haired guy. She really hadn't seen him on any date, mostly because they were around each other so often that they tending to keep their really personal life...personal. It wasn't that they didn't share detail of their dating lives it was just that they restrained themselves from double dates and things of the sort. They knew when to draw the line.

So it was pretty nice to see her brother enjoying himself with another person. Even if it was an emo-looking person. Who was she to judge?

Naruto was still gagging to himself from Sora's display. But in his mind, if they were getting intimate wasn't that a pass for him to do the same. Obviously they couldn't tell him to stop when they were doing it themselves, right?

_Yeah, let's go with that logic..__._

**_Good idea...not._**

"Tora, have some fries," Naruto offered holding two french fries in his hand. He opened his mouth to get her to imitate him, showing her that he was going to feed her.

Tora was more than willing, immediately opening her mouth. Giggling after Naruto pushed the last of the fries in her mouth. Taking a moment to chew and swallow before she beamed back at Naruto for the gesture.

Sasuke raised one eyebrow, not that anyone noticed because of his bangs. He couldn't believe that Naruto actually just did that. It seemed like something straight out of a cheesy rom-com. You know those movies that chicks fawn over, though they are all the same script just with different character names. You know those.

The raven was more than sure that the blonde had probably watched one just before their date for good measure/pointers.

Whatever, not like he cared.

"So...Sora how did you like today?" Sasuke asked turning his full attention to the kid who was scarfing food down like he was never to eat again.

Sora's eyes widened for a short second that the raven cared, before he swallowed and answered honestly, "You know, all in all, it wasn't half bad. I kinda had fun. It was definitely different than any date that I have been on before..for sure." He smiled at Sasuke like they had an inside joke.

Sasuke half-smiled back. He knew that the kid was referring to the stalking...wait no, it wasn't stalking. He was referring to _innocently_ following Naruto.

Naruto scoffed inside in his head. "_Tora_, how did _you_ like today?"

"Ohmigod, it was _awesome_! I had like _soo_ much fun! You did too, right? I mean all the things we did! It was a blast, for sure!" Tora answered animatedly. "Best date _ever_!"

The blonde smiled at her gushing enthusiasm. Sasuke had nothing on him. Tora had a "blast", while Sora "kinda had fun". He so won out on that. Mmhmm...well if had been a competition...

Sasuke smirked. How childish. He would never sink that low as to get petty satisfaction from things like that.

"Sora, I'm glad that you liked the _date_. I knew that this would be a day that you would never forget. It was pretty special," the raven said.

Sora, wrinkled his brow in slight confusion. "Umm...yeah...most definitely..."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Hey! Tora, this was an amazingly awesome date, right? Super special?"

"Yeah, it sure was..." she trailed off, finally catching on to the awkward dialogue. "Fun..."

The blonde grinned pleased with her response not picking up on the hesitancy. He happily grabbed her hand, quickly intertwining their fingers together, letting them rest in the small space in between them on the bench.

"Sora, I'm so glad that you most definitely liked this day. It's a relief because I wasn't sure that you would enjoy it."

"Tora, _I'm_ glad that you think that today has been fun. That was more than I had ever hoped for!"

"Sora, I know you thought that the situation we were in was hilarious...we sure got into some sticky situations."

"_Tora_, I hope that you remember this day for days to come. Though don't worry We will have another date soon!"

"Sora, I bet this was the most fun you have had this year, right?"

"Tora! I bet you are so glad that you are so glad that I came to that bakery that one day. Or else, we would've have met, yeah?"

The twins both stared at each other in confusion...the two boys weren't even waiting for them to answer back anymore. Something was going on that they weren't aware of and it was rather weird. The two boys were looking to one-up each other, but they couldn't understand as to why.

Sasuke and Naruto had now stopped talking and were just glaring at each other. They both had no idea as to how it got to this stage, but they were both furious at each other. Funny part is that if you were to ask either of them why they were mad right now they wouldn't really know.

Tora fidgeted on the bench, clenching tighter around her and Naruto's intertwined fingers to bring his attention back to her. It took a few hard squeezes before the blonde finished his glaring competition with Sasuke to look at her. He smiled sweetly in apology.

A wicked thought popped into his head, Naruto decided to end their little game.

He gave a furtive glance at the raven before swiftly ducking his head and kissing Tora's lips. The blonde kept his lips on hers for a good minute before freeing himself. Tora gazed back at him still in shock, eyes slightly glazed over. Her mouth in a round "O".

Her mouth matched both Sasuke and Sora's, they blinked a couple times just in case.

**_Oh no, he didn't!_**

_Oh yes, he did..._

The brunette had gained her sense back, and giggled, "Oh, Naruto, you're so sweet. Finally finishing the kiss, but you know you didn't have to do it in front of..." She trailed off but clearly was staring straight at Sasuke and her brother.

"I think I did," Naruto answered. "It shows that you're mine."

"Haha, of course," she chimed, "I was waiting for the day."

Something snapped. Sasuke felt it, and he was close to certain that he heard it too. Something, some nerve, had been severed. There was no communication between his reasoning and the rest of his brain. Because if there had been he probably wouldn't have done what he did after that.

Which started with him wordlessly getting up, constricting his hand around Naruto's upper arm and hauling the dobe away.

* * *

Away meaning behind the restaurant over the extremely short chain-linked fence that enclosed the carnival and into the trees. The light and sounds of the little festival seemed so far away though they knew that they were still near the vicinity.

"Ow!" Naruto exclaimed, prying off Sasuke hand from his blood-drained arm, "What was that for, Teme?"

"What was that for? What was it for?" Sasuke repeated haltingly. "What the hell do you think it was for, Dobe?_!_"

Their immediate surrounding of trees quieted their shouts, but there was a dull echo that could be heard.

"I don't know! I wouldn't be asking if I knew!" He yelled back.

"How can you not know! You really are a dobe if you can't figure out as much!"

"What...is this about the kiss, just now?"

"Yes, it is!"

"What about it?"

"Why did you do that?" Sasuke asked frustrated. He pushed his hand through his bangs trying to defuse some of his anger. Glancing at the amazingly green trees that encircled them, debating on whether to punch a tree. Just to get it out of his system.

"Why does it matter it is between me an Tora. This has nothing to do with you!" The blonde growled back.

"If it had nothing to do with me, then why did you specifically do it in front of me?"

"Specifically? Yeah, right like you're that important. And even so, I didn't think you would care that much!" Naruto defended. "Pfft, like it should matter."

"Why shouldn't it matter?"

"Because!"

"Yes?" The raven pushed.

Naruto's eyes darted back in forth, while he thought of an answer. "You and Sora were looking awfully cozy!" He accused.

Sasuke's furrowed his brows in confusion. "Huh?"

"Don't play innocent!" the blonde yelled infuriated, "What gives you the right to be on my case, when you were happily flirting away with Sora!"

"I was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

The raven was now walking in short circles in his anger. He couldn't think straight. Naruto had a point that it really should matter that much to him. But he could stop this over all consuming feeling that pushed him to be...angry. He was so angry it was confused even him. He couldn't stop himself.

If he had explained this to Naruto, the blonde would have agreed for he was in that same unconscious rage that he was unable to place or stop for that matter.

"Yes, you were dammit! I can flirt with Tora if you can flirt with Sora!"

"Yeah, well, I didn't kiss him!"

"So you admit to flirting!" Naruto said pointing in accusation.

"Yes! Wait, no! I'm just saying I wasn't 'sucking face' or anything!" Sasuke spit at him.

"Sucking face?" The blonde repeated incredulously. "Seriously, it was a chaste kiss that lasted like less than a minute. Don't preach to me! It shouldn't matter!"

"Yes! It does!"

"Why the fuck does it? Enlighten me since I'm the only one that doesn't understand, Teme. Why should it matter?"

"It just does!"

"Why!"

The raven turned to face away from Naruto watching as the fireflies started to come out. Lighting up the sky beautifully, not affected by their fight at all. Funny, how indifferent nature never failed to be. The raven rapidly spun back around and shouted. "Because it just does matter!"

"What the hell is your reason_?_!"

"I might just like you, Dobe!" He yelled back, finally letting lose. "Ever thought of that?"

Naruto looked angry ready to think of a new come back in this argument but was stopped in his mental tracks. Suddenly, it was very quite.

"Wait...what?"

Sasuke's eyes widened_._

**_Oh damn._**

* * *

**Thanks for reading!** Oh, damn. So...?


	21. Mind Over Matter

**Disclaimer: Stop asking stupid questions...I'm sick of answering them. But I'll humor you just this once, I don't, in anyway, make money off of this!  
**

**A/N:** Yay! I updated in a timely fashion! I'm so proud of myself...though I still I have yet to update my other story which I haven't updated since January, the month I started it in too...but that is worry for another day because I have put up this amazing chapter! I have a feeling you are going to enjoy this!

* * *

**Chapter 21: **Mind Over Matter**  
**

* * *

"What do you mean by 'I might just like you'?" Naruto asked hesitantly, looking Sasuke straight in the eyes. Noticing that Sasuke was making close to no eye contact at that moment. Rather his eyes were darting back in forth frantically as if he was trying to find and escape or excuse. Naruto was sure as hell not going to take any excuse as an answer. He wanted the truth.

"Umm...well by that I mean...You know...It's just that..." Sasuke quickly went through all the possible ways to start a sentence, but wasn't coming close to figuring out how to end one.

Naruto still gazing at him expectantly, not sure of what he would get. "Yeah...?"

The blonde was staring mercilessly at the uncomfortable raven. Just as he was about to push for an answer again, Sasuke finally met his eyes.

Sasuke then did the only thing that his mind could come up with. He figured that since this was the only thing he had managed to come up with that it had to be the right answer.

So the raven locked gazes with Naruto, opened his mouth to speak and then...ran.

Yes, Sasuke ran away like it was nobody's business. He was dashing through the forest, skirting around the trees like he had a map in his head. He was getting the hell out of there, because that was his initial and pretty much, only response. As primal as the idea was he was sure that when in doubt, run away was a solid answer. He was pushing his long legs as fast as they were willing to go.

Naruto stood there, mouth agape. It took a second for it to register exactly what happened. And then another to realize that he was not going to let Sasuke get away without an answer.

So he took of running after the teme.

"Get back here, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted after the raven. Due to his late reaction, Sasuke had been given enough time to make notable headway through the forest. Meaning Naruto couldn't even see the back of the Teme's head. He couldn't be sure he was even going in the right direction, but Naruto figured that there really was no other way for him to run in.

"Hell no, Dobe!"

The blonde smiled happily to himself.

_Gotcha._

Stupid Teme, thought he was so smart and yet made the mistake to answer him. It was as good as Naruto calling out "Marco" and Sasuke answering with "Polo". Judging by the fact that Sasuke could hear him meant he was close. And thankfully now from the shout, he roughly knew where he needed to go to get to him.

Naruto wasn't anything if not fit. Sprinting like this was a breeze for him. He was so used to it that he was surprised that he hadn't caught up to the teme yet. Naruto took pride in the fact that he was one of the fastest kids on the block. At his last school he was the star of the track team. And he couldn't say the skill hurt when it came to being a gangster either.

Sure enough, the blonde was able to catch quick, fleeting glancing at the very end of Sasuke's hair. He had to admit navigating through the sporadic trees was a tad difficult, not impossible just a slight hindrance. He occasionally lost his footing on the various dips and rocks on the ground, but it did feel nice to use the trees and his momentum to change directions on a whim.

Sasuke was starting to feel the effects of sprinting for his life. It was taking a toll on his breathing, but when he looked back he was startled to see a very determined Naruto on his trail. Unfortunately, the blonde didn't seem the least bit out of breath. The raven was back to a frantic mad dash.

**_This was your brilliant idea? Running away?_**

_I didn't hear you have any objections or suggestions when I thought of it._

**_Yeah, because I didn't think you were stupid enough to actually go with it. What is a genius IQ for when you are not going to use it?_**

Naruto was full on beaming now: Sasuke was in full view now. And on top of that, Naruto could just make out the end of the trees. They were nearing the area where the carnival met up with the forest. There was no where to hide. They were close to the entrance booth and parking lot. There was just one low lying chain link fence that separated the trees and the cobblestone walkway.

* * *

"Well...this is awkward..." Sora trailed off, glancing at his sister. Not knowing what to do after their dates random disappearance. All their food had managed to go cold in that time period. Not that Sora was planning on letting any of them go to waste.

"Yeah...where the hell did they go?" Tora added. "What're they doing? It's been like fifteen minutes..."

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "French fry?"

* * *

Just as Sasuke tried to jump over the fence, Naruto made a flying tackle for the raven. Naruto easily knocked the wind out of Sasuke as he made full body contact, effectively pinning him to the stone. The raven let out an audible "umph".

They had made quite the spectacle of themselves. People that were now exiting the carnival milled around them wondering if this was a performance set up by the place, waiting to see if they were going to do anything. Maybe even a fight, if they were lucky. Or at least, get off the ground. Naruto didn't seem to be fazed by all the eyes on him.

"Get off of me!" Sasuke demanded imperiously, though the effect was tainted by his muffled sound...and the fact that Naruto was pressing his face into the ground. He couldn't talk properly. But Naruto understood what he was saying.

"Why the hell would I do that?" Naruto snorted. "You just tried to run away from me. I bet if I let you up you would just do it again."

"I won't, promise. Just let me up. You're crushing my diaphragm!"

The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Your what?"

"I can't breath!"

"Oh!" Naruto jumped up off the raven as if electrocuted. He felt bad for suffocating him, but that is what he gets for not trying to run from him. He was the Kyuubi for God's sake, Sasuke really wasn't that bright, after all.

The blonde offered his hand in apology, helping Sasuke up. He brushed off the remnants of gravel off of the front of his pants. Before Naruto could interrogate him once again, Sasuke shot off like a bullet.

"What the _hell?_!" Naruto yelled in exasperation, throwing his hands in the air. Just to take off after him, once again.

Sasuke didn't make it far this time around because he didn't have that same stun-effect, therefore, he didn't have the original head start as last time. He barely made it into the parking lot when he was once again pressed against the ground. Sasuke had to admit the blacktop was way more uncomfortable than the cobblestone.

_I'm out of ideas..._

**_You say that like you had a viable one in the first place._**

"Don't you dare try and run away again. I'm going to let you up, but if I get any sign of you about to escape. I'll pin you without hesitation. Got it, Teme?" Naruto asked. Hoping that if he talked authoritatively that Sasuke might listen to him. Sitting on Sasuke was kind of fun though, made him feel like he was finally in charge. This way Naruto also made sure that he wasn't suffocating him, just effectively immobilizing him.

"Fine..." Sasuke said in resignation.

"How can I know you aren't lying?" Naruto asked skeptically. "How do I know you won't just bolt when I let you up, like last time?"

"I don't know...Just believe me."

"Huh, why should I? You didn't stick around last time when I let you up."

"What do I do then?"

"Prove it to me that you won't run."

"How_?_!" the raven questioned incredulously. There was no way he could prove right now...face down on the road and all. He was so glad that the carnival wasn't a really popular attraction for the city, he didn't like the idea of being run over by a car, while they were here.

"I don't know. You're the _supposed_ to be the smart one," Naruto mocked.

"I don't kn—how about you take the car keys out of my pocket? That way you know I can't go anywhere even if I run."

The blonde mulled it over quickly in his head and couldn't think of any obvious loopholes. He could catch him with ease if he did try to run because he would be cautious, it would be annoying to chase him again, but he wouldn't get far anyway. So after deliberating he agreed, Naruto snatched the raven's keys and hopped of the teme willingly.

Sasuke took his time getting up this time because he knew he had been backed into a corner now. Making sure that he was in tact after being tackled twice. He was rather annoyed to see that his dark-wash jeans were sporting a rip at both knees, but his knees, themselves, were fine. His shirt was also slightly frayed at the elbows. Anything that he naturally had used to catch his fall to the ground had been damaged.

"Okay, explain yourself!" Naruto commanded, quite convincingly. Not that Sasuke was in any rush to spill his guts.

"Explain what?"

_Might as well give him a hard time._

**_Amen_**.

"What you meant when you said that?"

"Said what?" Sasuke responded blankly.

Naruto ruffled his hair frustratedly. "You know what I mean! Stop avoiding my questions!"

"I'm not avoiding any question. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sasuke!"

"Naruto." The raven smirked as he watched Naruto grow more flustered.

"Ugh! Answer the damn question."

"What question?"

"What fuck, did you fucking mean, when you fucking said that 'I might just like you', dammit!" Naruto shouted, fed up...rather loudly...in public. He quickly realized his mistake, flushing a deep red. He ducked his head in embarrassment when he saw that the few people that had been in the parking lot was now staring at him.

Sasuke almost smiled at the Dobe's impulse related stupidity, but knew this wasn't really the time for that. He needed to get himself out of this grave he had dug for himself.

"Why does it matter so much to you what I meant?" the raven shot back, deciding that it was high time to turn the tables on the blonde.

"That's not the matter at hand. I asked you a straight forward question, so answer it, Teme!"

"Yeah, a straight _fucking_ question," Sasuke teased Naruto for his overuse of profanity in his sentence.

"Just answer it!"

"First, tell me why I should."

"'Cause I want you to." He sidestepped the question, childishly.

"You know that hasn't been a valid reason for anything since the first grade..."

"Yeah, well screw that. I know what you are doing here!" He accused.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow in interest.

"You don't want to answer my _fucking_ question so now you are throwing back everything I say in my face."

_Hmm...so he's smarter than he looks...or acts for that matter._

**_Like you should be talking, Mr. I-think-I'll-run-away-yeah-that'll-work-not._**

He just shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not."

"Stop it!" Naruto exclaimed fed up with all the stalling.

"Okay." Sasuke smirked, twirling around, hands in his pockets and started to walk away. Only to be rapidly jerked around by a rather pissed off Naruto.

"You know that's not what I meant!"

"How do I know what you meant? I don't read minds. Even I'm not that amazing." He was starting to find this game amusing in the most juvenile way.

"Sasuke..." Naruto sighed, knowing that the Teme wasn't about to stop being a teme any time soon.

Sasuke almost gave in then, he felt a pull thanks to Naruto's expression. It was almost like he was begging silently with his eyes. Round and sad and blue, kind of like a puppy dog. A golden retriever maybe? Sasuke didn't know why but now that the sun was going down and light was sparse it only seemed to intensify his electric blue gaze. Like they were the only things in the world right know, blinking pleases.

And then his pride took over, snapping out of Naruto's hypnotic stare. "Yes?"

"Answer!"

"I don't know what in the world you might be referring to."

"Bullshit! I just asked you the question, like hell you don't know what I'm referring to!"

"Tell me why it's so important that you know."

Naruto fished for and answer but could think of any. Ending up just sputtering half-responses, like Sasuke had done earlier. "Well...uh...ummm...you know...it's just that...you see...obviously..."

"Well...umm...uh...what?" the raven mocked hoping to get a rise out of the blonde, so that he would end up just be mad and forget all about the question.

"Uh..."

"Uh...what?"

"Umm...well..."

"Umm...well...what?"

"Goddammit, Sasuke!" Naruto yelled in frustration, he wasn't thinking straight anymore. All the push for an answer had jumbled up his thoughts, he was just angry and frustrated now. He was always an impulsive person, even more so when angry. Nothing was computing quite right, all things going haywire.

Sasuke was about to respond with the irritating, "Goddamn what?" As the words were about to leave his mouth, the red-faced Naruto came up to him. Just a hair's breadth away from his face, and then he suddenly felt the Dobe's soft lips on his in a chaste kiss.

The raven was effectively shut up. He was beyond stunned. What the hell had just happened? Naruto's eyes mimicked Sasuke's as they widened in panic when he realized what he had just did. Sasuke paralysis was wearing off, as they stared each other down in shock. He was about to speak when, Naruto broke the silence first.

"Well in the remembered words of the great Sasuke Uchiha—" Naruto was now tearing in the opposite direction towards their cars. He had both of their keys in the first place. Sasuke would be stranded if he made it to his car in time.

Sasuke smiled slowly, when he understood that Naruto was making fun of the fact that he tried to run away from his problem just now...and now Naruto was copying him.

_That was funny. Life's pretty funny. Haha...I feel funny, too. How funny._

**_Go after him and contemplate life's hilarity later!_**

The raven shook himself out of his dobe-induced stupor, there was no way in hell that he was going to let the dobe escape after what he did. Especially because he wasn't going to let Naruto succeed where he failed: running away.

* * *

"So...Should we leave?" Sora asked kinda confused if they should even try to wait for the pair to come back. He and Tora managed to polish off the last of, well, everyone's food. It had been at least thirty minutes since they last saw either Sasuke or Naruto after they stormed off. It was high time to get up.

"Nah, we should go on a couple more rides!" Tora suggested excitedly. "When's the last time we hung out together like this? Might as well make the most out of it!"

"Probably not the smartest idea after eating all that food," he said gesturing towards the multitude of empty trays and packets lying haphazardly across the picnic bench. "But all the more reason to love it!"

"Awesome, I hope that the guys are having fun where ever they are right now."

"Yeah."

* * *

"Get the hell back here, Dobe!" Sasuke shouted at Naruto's ever shrinking figure.

"Fuck no!"

They pair zig-zagged around the various parked cars. There were mostly vacant lots, but the few cars there were certainly an obstacle, just enough for Sasuke to lose sight of Naruto. It was like this messed up version of hide-and-seek. Goddamn those SUVs!

The blonde was frantically searching for his car or even Sasuke's car if worse comes to worst. Which to the blonde it seemed like he had hit that point and now it was just a downward spiral to who knows where.

He was surprised, but mostly distraught, that a place as small and off the map as this rundown carnival had such a spacious parking lot; i.e. he had no idea where he was going. Though he was pretty sure that he was going in circles because that silver Honda Civic looked awfully familiar...

Sasuke had given up on looking for the Dobe, he had other plans.

Naruto breathed an sigh of relief. His car, his glorious car. Here it was sitting right where he had left it, not that he remembered where he had left it. But that was all behind them because he had found it, and he was now going to be running away from Sasuke at 50 mph. Success!

The blonde too a minute to rest, bending over resting his elbow on his knee. He was sure that he could afford the break. Straightening up, grinning, he walked around the passenger side of the car to get to the driver's door. He fished his keys out of his pocket then glanced up.

"Hello, Dobe," Sasuke addressed calmly, leaning casually on his door. The raven wasn't out of breath or anything to show his rush, he looked completely collected as if he just happened to be there at the same time, a coincidence.

"AHHHHHH!" Naruto screamed in shock, like he'd just seen the Grim Reaper. Practically falling over from the scare. He thought he was in the clear. "How the hell did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Find my car before me! You didn't even take this car here! How could you possibly know where it was_?_! Even I didn't know where it was!" He gasped out. "What the fuck, did you apparate here, or something? How did you get here?"

The raven smirked, mysteriously. "Like you said...magic."

"Magic, my face!"

"Think Dobe it's not that hard. I know you are surprised but the answer isn't all that hard."

"Just tell me, dammit!"

"I'm parked right next to you," Sasuke said pointing at his Lamborghini that was, just as he said, right next to it. "It's hardly an inconspicuous car..."

"Oh...well...whatever I didn't know that..." Naruto said feeling stupid immediately, Sasuke tended to have that affect on people. "You parked after I was already in the carnival how was I supposed to know?" He justified.

"I don't know, but if I was you and saw my car and then a Lambo next to it I would bet money that it was Sasuke's car. How many people in this town have the same car as me anyway?"

"Whatever...I still think it's weird that you found it so fast in such a huge parking lot...I blame your memory, stupid genius."

"Stupid genius is an oxymoron. And on the contrary, I used my iPhone to get here."

"Wait, what? Your phone took you here?" Naruto questioned not willing to believe that.

"In a sense, yes. There's and app that uses GPS technology to lead you back to your car in parking lots like this."

"Of course, there's app for that..." the blonde mumbled bitterly. Damn you, Apple!

* * *

"Ugh, I feel sick. That second round on The Behemoth was so not a smart idea," Sora grumbled as he leaned over the garbage can just in case. He was hoping that he didn't keel over and die too, his stomach was killing him!

"Sissy!" Tora teased as she skipped over to him, perfectly fine. She hooked her arm through his, tugging at it to get her brother to follow her into the line for the tea cup ride that was basically a cheap knockoff of the Disneyland Alice and Wonderland ride.

"Hell no! I'm not spinning around in tea cups. I feel dizzy enough standing still!" He protested weakly. He knew his sister well enough to know that she wasn't about to take no for an answer. So as of forever ago he decided not to argue all that much. He would cave soon enough, might as well save himself the trouble.

"Nope! We're going on!" They were already standing in the rather impressive line.

"I wonder what Sasuke and Naruto are doing? Where could they have possibly gone?" Sora wondered out loud.

"I bet I know what they're doing~" Tora sang in response, a clear Cheshire Cat smile painted across her face.

"What?" He asked intrigued, mostly because of her expression.

"Professing their love for each other!" She giggled like she spilled the biggest secret ever.

"Whoa, whoa, wait, what_?_!"

"Come on, Sora keep up. Can't you tell they like each other?"

"I know that...well I know that Sasuke likes Naruto, but how do _you_ know that?" Sora was shocked, this was the last thing he expected his sister to say.

"Duh, it's obvious, I knew from the beginning: that day that the cafe. They were exuding 'we love each other', but didn't look like they were going to admit it anytime soon. So I decided to give them a little...push." She grinned full-watt, the secret was out and she was loving the response she was getting from Sora, or well the lack thereof. He was her twin and he didn't know. If anyone was able to read he mind it should have been him, damn she was a good actress. "I think I should get an Oscar for my performance."

"Whatawhatawhat?"

"Don't you think they look _so_ cute with each other? I was thrilled when I saw Sasuke trailing us, but I was surprised to see you here too...what were you doing here?"

Sora didn't even try to answer the question. "You knew we were following you from the beginning_?_!"

"Of course, silly. What kind of evil mastermind would I be if I wasn't observant? How could I not miss you guys stalking us from ride to ride? Thankfully, Naruto didn't see you, that wouldn't have gone over well. You guys aren't very good at following people inconspicuously. I was worried for a while...you lost us. But we met again at the Maze. So it all worked out in the end, yeah?

"Now they're probably confessing to each other. They were so jealous all through out the day, it was so fun to watch. Way better than any drama that comes on TV, for sure. I'm the best cupid anyone could ever have, right?" She smiled innocently at Sora.

Quite the actress, indeed.

* * *

"So..." Naruto started.

"Yes, Dobe?"

"I don't know...this is awkward." He said glancing down to their intertwined hands. They were strolling around back in the trees of the Konoha forest because they didn't want to leave quite yet. Scared that the magic of this night would dissipate right when they leave. And it would all be like a distant memory.

"What's weird? I like you, you like me. I think this is pretty nice."

"Nice, but weird."

"Fine, I'll give you that much." He smiled down at his blonde. Yes, he could finally say it: _his_ blonde. Take that evil thought process!

**_Nah, I'm not going to hate today. I gotta give ya props on this one._**

"Poor Tora, must be heartbroken right now because I left her back at the carnival." He had sent her a text a couple minutes ago telling her that he wasn't coming back that something had come up so he had to go ASAP and that he was sorry and that he would explain later. "And I can't imagine how she'll take the news of us being _together_ together. I feel so bad..."

"Eh," Sasuke could careless, he felt like there was nothing else in the world mattered right now.

"What about Sora?" Naruto asked. Sasuke must feel bad since he left his own date alone too.

"Oh, we weren't really on a date I just said that to make you jealous...he played along nicely." Sasuke said truthfully now that he didn't have to keep up the act.

"_What?_!"

**_Wrong thing to say, genius._**

* * *

**Thanks for reading!** OMFG, THEY ARE TOGETHER *does a little happy dance* What did you think? How many people can still say they hate Tora? I thought that was damn good chapter...now what could happen next :P Anyway, WHAT DID YOU THINK? You better tell me something after I cranked out this chapter just for you guys!


	22. The Great Outdoors

**Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah...you know what goes here...lack of ownage.  
**

**A/N: **Damn, this story is just flying by now...XD I should know because I wasn't planning to write anything but then AymiChyan challenged me to a duel of who could finish a chapter faster...and so here I am coming out the victor :DD So go thank her for the update (Seriously, she started ignoring my messages because I was slacking off on writing)!

Well, either way, hope you enjoy the building-up-to-the-real-fun chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 22: **The Great Outdoors

* * *

"Naruto! Come on, man. This's so unfair. You have to go with me! If I have to go with just my family I'll kill myself!" Kiba howled in Naruto's ear.

The blonde was so close to just hanging up on Kiba, he wasn't sure that his eardrum could take much more of his extremely loud begging. Originally, he was being bombarded with text after text, but Kiba got smart and he called. Naruto could easily ignore texts, but that didn't work so well with calls. And he wanted to hit himself of making the mistake of picking up the phone without checking caller ID in advance.

Worst part was that Naruto knew that if he did just close the phone on the brunette that in a matter of minutes, he would be hearing his own door bell ringing...incessantly.

Naruto sighed, running his face over his hand. "Kiba, why do you think that if you don't want to go on this camping trip, that I would?"

"'Cause it's way more fun with a bud! My mom and my sister are so annoying! You have to save me!"

"I want to spend the rest of my Thanksgiving break in peace..."

"You freakin' owe me, dude. I have done so much for you," Kiba reasoned.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Name one thing?"

"What thing?"

"Name one thing that you have done for me that I'd 'owe you' for."

"Umm, well, I don't know, but come on, you know there must be something..." he trailed off in thought, "You gotta do this for me! I'll be your best friend!" Kiba pleaded when he couldn't come up with a specific example.

"Dude, you already are my best friend." Naruto laughed at Kiba's logic, or lack thereof.

"Exactly! And what're best friends for?" He asked rhetorically. "They're there for you when you need to be rescued from a boring, family camping trip." Filling him in on the apparent answer.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Hah, I'm not sure that was one of the guidelines in Best Friends 101...and I thought you liked camping, but fine...on one condition..."

"Yeah, what? Anything! I swear, you name it!"

"Get the rest of the gang to go. I bet your mom won't care how many of your friends go, right?"

"For sure. The more the merrier as she always says. This is going to be the bomb!" Kiba exclaimed. "I'll call you later once I get everyone on board! Give you the details and crap then! Bye!"

"Bye," the blonde said with a smile, snapping his phone shut. He could already imagine Kiba hyperactively calling all the other guys. And begging them into submission just like he had with with Naruto. Actually now that he thought about it he kinda felt sorry for the rest of the guys. He had released the wrath of the desperate Kiba on them.

_**Like hell you feel bad! Look at the size of that grin on your face!**_

_Eh, maybe I am lying, but just wait for when Kiba wakes up Shikamaru...I wish I was there._

**_...I don't. I like living, thank you very much.  
_**

_Good point. Oh well, let's get all our camping gear ready._**_  
_**

* * *

"You came!" Kiba grinned, running up to Naruto to give him a man hug.

"I said I was coming, didn't I?" Naruto smiled back. It was worth dragging his butt over here for a 3-day outdoor excursion just to see Kiba this excited. He was practically jumping up and down in place.

He had been told to come over to their house and then after everyone was accounted for they would leave for a camping site that was on the outskirts of the Konoha forest. He didn't remember the name of the place, but it really didn't matter. He knew it was near a natural lake because Kiba hadn't shut up about how he wanted to go water skiing, tubing, and fishing. He also assumed that they had their own boat docked there, or something.

As soon as he pulled up to the Inuzuka's residence, he had been affronted by a _massive_ RV. It literally was a house on wheels. But that must have been the point. Plus the thing had to transport around seven people, comfortably.

Naruto could see that the RV was well loved by the family by the state it was in: obviously used, but in perfect condition. The blonde bet if he asked that Kiba could tell him the exact story for each dent and scratch. Not that he wanted to hear it.

Since he was the first one there, he politely helped Kiba's mom, Tsume, pack the car. Good manual labor. Lugging the cargo from house to RV and then back again was way more strenuous than it looked. After a few minutes Naruto was even breathing heavily and he could feel the sweat gathering between his shoulder blades, but Kiba's mom hadn't broken a sweat. That women was a monster!

All the Inuzuka's looked the same: light brown skin, medium brown hair, and dark brown eyes. Oh, and they all had an unnatural love for dogs. He was pretty sure that Kiba's mom was like a professional dog breeder and that his older sister, Hana, was a vet with a specialty in canine treatment and care.

What he did know for a fact was that there were always ten or more dogs in the house. Every time he visited he was more than sure that there were more in the tiny house than the last.

The burden of packing was lessened when an extremely agitated Shikamaru showed up. Scratch that, whether or not Shikamaru was here, Naruto knew that he would still be doing all the work. That kid would end up just sitting, in a comatose state, on the porch until it was time to leave.

"Hey, Shika! I can't believe Kiba got you to come!" Naruto yelled out to the other boy.

The tired brunette grunted in response, plopping down on the bottom step of the porch's staircase, leaning himself onto the pillar next to him. He was probably fast asleep. Somethings never change, just like he had thought. The blonde almost laughed when he realized that Shikamaru was still in his pajamas.

Naruto walked over to Kiba to give him props with a ritual fist bump. "I'm impressed that you live to tell the tale of waking Shika."

"It wasn't easy, man, but was it worth it!" Kiba said, "Though for a second there I was scared he was going to murder me."

"Didja go to his house, or something?"

"Yeah. Pushed him out of his bed."

"Damn, dude. That takes guts!"

The brunette happily bowed to the non-existent crowd, going on to kiss-wave his hand to the imaginary, adoring fans.

"Boys!" Tsume yelled from inside the house. Coming out of the doorway holding onto three huge bags on each of her arms, like fucked up bracelets, and a non-amused expression on her face. "A little help, please."

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am," Kiba saluted, marching side-by-side with Naruto back into the foyer.

Naruto grunted as he was handed a couple camping backpacks, like those monsters you would see boyscouts hauling on their backs. You know the ones that contained everything but a full sized hospital.

He struggled down the steps and around the RV in order to get to the storage units on the left side of the vehicle. He dropped the backpacks on the ground, looking up to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything back in the house. He knew that he would get a good lecture from Kiba's mom again for his chronic forgetfulness. Just to be horrified by another site.

"What the fuck are you doing here?_!_" Naruto shouted in surprise, pointing in accusation.

Sasuke smirked in amusement. "Hello to you too, Dobe."

"What the fuck is he going here?" Redirecting the question to the general public.

Kiba raised a brow. "I thought that he would be included when you said 'the rest of the gang'...?"

"Yeah, I'm part of the gang now, aren't I?" Sasuke said in unnecessary repetition. Naruto heard Kiba loud and clear. Bastard.

Now that Naruto thought about it the gang hung out with Sasuke on a daily basis. He had been pretty much inducted after the whole engagement party throw down. I mean he ate lunch with them everyday, nothing makes it more official than that. It only made sense that Kiba would invite Sasuke just like he invited Shikamaru. Ugh, he hated logic. It never helped him in any of his arguments anyway.

"Teme, why did you come? Don't you have better things to do then come on a freaking camping trip?" Naruto asked with excess hostility.

The raven didn't bother to answer. He just smirked.

It drove the blonde crazy. It was like he only ever had one facial expression. Did he not know how to do anything other than smirk? Did he think that it made him cool to smirk all the time? Was he better than them because he could. It was he all-knowing smirk. And it was directly aimed at him. Oh, how he wanted to punch that ridiculously, fucking hot smirk off the teme's face. Sasuke was teasing him with that sexy smirk and Naruto knew it.

_Gah! Must. Resist. Urge. To. Punch. Face._

**_Always wanted to know how you would act when Sasuke became your boyfriend...Well seems nothing has changed. Still a whole lot of murderous intent._**

Naruto hadn't told any of his friends about them being, like...together...yet. Nor did he really feel like it. He wasn't even sure about how he felt about it now and it had been two days. And you can bet your ass he had been thinking about it all that time. And he wasn't sure how to tell them either. "Hey, guess what I'm gay and going out with Teme over here!" Didn't strike him as a good idea.

"Ugh, whatever, where's Gaara?" Naruto wondered out loud, the rest of the people seemed to be here.

"I'm right behind you."

"Wah! Gaara don't do that! Next time tell people you're here...don't creep up on them!" The blonde spun around on his heels, grabbing his chest in over-exaggerated shock. The redhead gave a short flicker of a smile in response, shifting his backpack further up his shoulder to show he was all set.

"Kiba!" Tsume shouted from across the yard with he back facing the driveway. She was rummaging through the food rations, putting everything in its proper cooler and making sure there was enough ice to keep the drinks cold.

"What, Mom?" the brunette asked.

"_Kiba_!" she yelled again in annoyance.

"_Whaaaaaaat, Mom!_?"

"Answer me when I call for you! Don't give me attitude!"

"I did! You just didn't hear me!"

"Well next time answer properly!"

"Yeah, yeah..." he grumbled, rolling his eyes. He mimed shooting himself in the head to the guys. Naruto laughed, Kiba's mom was truly a dictator. But he secretly thought that Kiba was just like her, not a dictator, but just that same gruff, loud personality. That was probably why they butted heads so often they were too alike in their characteristics. Eh, as they say, "the apple falls under the tree"...or something like that.

"Is everyone here_?_!" Tsume asked while marking off necessary items from her checklist.

"Yeah, mom all the guys are here!"

"Go get your sister!" she ordered, not bothering to turn around.

"Ugh, but why?" Kiba moaned. "Hana's not my responsibility. She's the older one too! Why am I always the one who has to do _everything_?"

"Kiba, _enough_. Just go get her," she said in a no-nonsense tone. "I make her do things too."

"Yeah, right..." he stomped off, back into the house. Naruto watched as Kiba did what his mom told him to with the least amount of work possible. Maybe to be defiant or something, but there he stood in the front door frame yelling "Hana, get your butt over here! Mom wants you! We're leaving! We'll leave without you!"

"I'm coming, dogface!" Hana shouted back, but came skipping out within a few seconds with all her stuff in hand. She was equipped with a Seventeen magazine and her violet iPod for the four hour long drive. If they could've driven straight from point A to point B it would've been a two and a half hour drive, but thanks to a few mountains they had to take the long, winding route.

"Mom, she called me 'dogface' again!" Kiba whined.

"Hana! Stop calling your brother names! And Kiba I don't see how dogface is even an insult, dogs are cute. She's calling you cute."

"_Mooooooom, that's even worse!_"

* * *

Soon enough, the RV was packed to the roof and everyone was situated.

And by that it meant, Tsume and Hana were in the front seats, and all five of the boys were stuffed in the back. Sasuke and Gaara were sitting one side of the wooden table on the hard bench seat, in identical poses. Both of them had one elbow on the table with their chin resting on the palm of their hand and the other on their phones. Shikamaru was laying down on the other bench of little table, with his for arm as a makeshift pillow...asleep. Ironically enough, Naruto and Kiba were seated criss-cross on the fold-out bed. Why Shikamaru chose to sleep on the bench no one knew...but they weren't about to wake him and ask. Or try and move him for that matter.

The RV was rather roomy. There was a miniature kitchen with all the amenities: stainless steel sink, electric stove, mini-fridge, automatic dishwasher, and cherry wood cabinets. With five different sleeping cots all haphazardly put in the random spaces they designer could find. One even required a fold out ladder to get to because it was above another bed that was directly next to the corner cabinets.

It was a very confusing layout, Naruto knew if someone described it to him there was no way he would be able to picture it. You had to see it to understand.

* * *

_-10 Minutes Later-_

"Are we there yet?" Kiba moaned.

"No."

* * *

_-20 Minutes Later-_

"Are we there yet?"

"_No_."

* * *

_-25 Minutes Later-_

"Are we there yet?"

"No!"

* * *

_-30 Minutes Later-_

"Are we there yet?"

"_No!_"

* * *

_-Every Half Hour After-_

"Are we there yet?"

"**No!**"

* * *

-_There-_

"Are we there yet?" Kiba groaned, tired of playing B.S. with the rest of the guys. For some reason they always knew when he was bluffing, and he had lost four games straight. And Shikamaru had won four games straight. And they have only played four games.

He officially hated card games.

"Yes," Tsume responded gratefully, she was just as relieved, Kiba would finally shut up. Number one thing on her to-do list was to recover her sanity.

"Hooow much looooonge— Wait...did you just say _yes_?" He said surprised, dramatically acting out like he was fake-cleaning his ear, as if to hear her answer better this time around. Because apparently getting there right when she said they would get there is such a shock.

"Yes, we're here."

"Hell yeah!"

Tsume parked right were they were, pocketing the keys before stepping out the driver side door, ready to get some fresh air. Kiba burst through the door without pause, breathing in a sense of adventure. The rest of the gang followed in suit, making a point of first stretching out all their stiff limbs for that satisfying pop.

They were surrounded by fresh, green trees. Yeah, they were pretty much completely green from moss overgrowth. Naruto was sure that the only non-green things in the site was them, the RV, and the dirt ground. All the rest of the scenery was a deep forest green...made sense since they were in a forest.

"Wanna go exploring?" Kiba asked all the guys. He was going to conquer the woods. He'll be king of the forest!

"Yes!" Naruto answer with just as much enthusiasm.

Sasuke, Gaara, and Shika wordlessly nodded their heads. They all started walking towards the dense foliage. Kiba looked back before yelling to his mom. "Mom, we're gonna go check this place out, We'll be back soon, 'kay?"

"Sure, sure, get the out of here," she answered, happy at the idea of getting him out of her hair. She began to take out the luggage from the outer storage units, folding out two chairs for herself and Hana. Making a not to set up the tents and pull out the sleeping bags before anything else.

Kiba shrugged. "Come on!"

* * *

The gang was soon stepping over mud puddles, frogs, and other animals, which they didn't care to identify for their own mental safety. Pushing aside outlying plant leaves, while brushing aside giant spider webs, happy to not to see the maker there. Stopping only to skip stones in the narrow, rocky river they saw crossing their path. Slowly they jumped stone to stone, to make it to the other side of the water bank. Laughing how it felt like they were in an Indiana Jones movie.

Now making their way up an obvious trial on the edge of the nearby mountain side.

"What is that?_!_" Naruto shouted. Staring straight at a stick that hadn't been moving a second ago.

"That would be a snake," Gaara answered in an almost bored tone.

"I know it's a snake but what kind of snake_?_!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Can't you hear that rattling noise?"

"I don't think it matter if I hear, it's more of that I don't want to hear it," Naruto answered, gulping. Glancing around the thin trail they were on to see if there was a wide enough, clear area they could use to avoid the obviously pissed off snake.

It really didn't help that Naruto had stepped on this "stick" before figuring out that it was otherwise. It was hissing loudly now, but of course the rattling noise took the cake when it came to noise. It's funny how something that isn't actually not that loud can sound like a horribly din when scared. Oh, how pleasant life was indeed.

"That's an eastern diamondback rattlesnake, or _Crotalus adamanteus, _you can tell by the pattern on it's back," Shikamaru said. "It's a venomous pit viper species found in here. It is the heaviest, though not the longest, venomous snake in the Konoha and the largest rattlesnake, in general."

Naruto gave him an incredulous look. "I could've gone without the extra detail." Was this really the time to give every menacing detail of a species when face-to-face with it. Why couldn't he have angered a frog, or something. He had seen enough of those.

So here they were stuck between a confining trail and a rattled rattlesnake.

_Worst day ever._

**_Well...there was that day where that baby lamb g—_**

_Don't you dare bring up my forth birthday. We agreed to never speak of the day again._

"So what do we do?" Kiba asked Shikamaru. If anyone had any answers it would be resident genius.

He shrugged.

Geniuses shrugging was never a good sign.

"Wait, we can just turn around and go back guys. Duh," Naruto said, snapping his fingers in enlightenment. It was so obvious why hadn't he thought of that before.

"I don't think so," Shikamaru said with no explanation.

Not that is was needed as soon as Naruto physically turned around, he saw the problem.

"Holy shit!" Kiba yelled, jumping two feet in the air.

Good to know they were actually surrounded by diamondbacks. Apparently the rattle of the original, annoyed snake attracted others. Brilliant. Stupid snake had to bring other snakes into his problem. This was between him and them, not the other snakes. What a rude snake.

Sasuke decided that this might have not been the smartest idea to come along. He had never been afraid of snakes, but encountering a venomous snake in an empty forest hadn't been on his bucket list. It would be fun to save the dobe though. Superman for a day.

"So...?" Naruto trailed, waiting for someone to finish the thought.

"We're stuck." Shikamaru yawned.

Really? How can this be a time to yawn?

The snakes were getting restless, he could see them slithering back and forth, hissing furiously. They were snapping thin branches as they moved in, adding to the annoying crinkle of dry leaves. And now the boys were pressing their backs together, in an inverted huddle. Some evasive tactics would be nice. There was no more room, the three snakes had efficiently locked them in the middle of the path.

Sasuke glanced down, lifting one foot up to notice that they were standing on holes in the ground. Burrows. Probably the angry snakes' burrow. Well good to know that the snakes weren't going any where any time soon...

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Kiba snorted.

Just as Naruto was going to add to the genius bashing, the snake he had stepped on lashed out. It didn't manage to latch on to any of the guys but it was effective at getting them to move.

"AAAAH! Run for your lives!" Naruto shouted in terror.

And with that all the boys scattered.

Naruto didn't look back. He was getting out of there. Of course, he hoped that all the guys were fine, but first things first, get the hell out of there. He grabbed the person that had been to his immediate right.

Turned out to be Sasuke. Go figure.

He and the raven ran side by side, bolting through the tree. Cutting through bushes and shrubs. Jumping over rocks and random fallen trees. He felt the leaves whip his face as he ran by, leaving his face red. Naruto almost tripped a couple times, and then actually tripped a couple others, but got back up to resume running.

After a good five minutes of sprinting, they assumed that they were far enough from those venomous hell creatures at this point to stop.

Sasuke and Naruto were both doubled over gasping for air, using each other as support to keep from collapsing on the floor right then and there. Their lungs couldn't inhale fast enough.

"That was close," Naruto managed to wheeze out.

"Huh, yeah..." Sasuke said still gasping, he sat down on a rather large rock. Thoroughly winded.

He ran way too often when around Naruto. That couldn't possibly be good for his health.

Once they caught there breath, they scanned their surroundings.

Yup, trees. Lots of 'em.

That told them absolutely nothing.

"Uh, Sasuke. Where are we?"

"I don't know..." He answered honestly, trying to picture a map in his head an pinpoint their location. But he couldn't find an object that would help him figure out where they were, there was no landmark, sign, or trail nearby. It was all goddamn, identical trees.

"Weren't you a boyscout or something?"

"No, if anyone should've been a boyscout it's you!"

"Ugh, call someone," the blonde ordered.

"Fine," Sasuke snapped. He pulled out his iPhone from his back pocket. And slid to unlock. "No signal."

"What the fuck is an iPhone good for when there is no signal?"

"Well, you can still play Angry Birds," Sasuke said in a lighthearted attempt to get the blonde to smile. That serious, worried face did not suit the idiot.

"Fuck you."

**_Yes, Please._**

Sasuke rolled his eyes...at himself. "To be fair, we are in the middle of no where," he pointed out, almost answering both of them.

**_Even better._**

"But you're Sasuke _Uchiha_! Can't your personal army come and get us. Or can't you use your magical emo powers to poof us back to the camp, or something?" The blonde asked semi-hysterical.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I hope those weren't earnest questions..."

"Where the fuck are we_?_!" Naruto yelled to the trees. He heard it echo off into the distance.

* * *

"Where the fuck are we_,_" Gaara asked Shikamaru.

* * *

"Where the fuck am I_?_!" Kiba yelled to...no one...

* * *

**Thanks for reading!** Aw, our poor characters are lost in the woods. And Kiba is all by himself. They have to fend for themselves too XD But I hoped you liked it though the it wasn't interesting, the interesting has yet to come XP But tell me what you think!

**On that note**, here is a completely random I have to say, AymiChyan has just posted the prologue for her own SasuNaru fic called** Birds of a Feather**, inspired by James Patterson's Maximum Ride series! And if that doesn't insure its awesome-ness, I am the editor of the story too XD **Check it out!** Might as well since you are done reading this!


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